UNESCO elects new Director-General
The 35th session of the UNESCO General Conference has elected Irina Bokova as Director-General of the Organization. Ms Bokova will be UNESCO’s ninth Director-General since 1946 and the first ever women to assume the post. Ms Bokova was designated by UNESCO’s Executive Board on 22 September.
The President of the General Conference, Davidson Hepburn, announced the outcome of the vote before the delegates of UNESCO’s Member States on 15 October.
The new Director-General declared, “it is my dream to nurture relations of perfect synergy between the Director-General and Member States, so as to move together towards the creation of societies that are more just and prosperous, based on knowledge, tolerance and equal opportunity for all, thanks to education, science, culture and access to information. I shall be guided in my work by my concept of a new humanism for the 21st century.”
Born in Sofia in 1952, Irina Gueorguieva Bokova was Bulgaria’s Ambassador to France and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO until her election. A career diplomat and member of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria, she has served as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Director-General is the executive head of the Organization. Ms Bokova will begin her four year mandate on 15 November 2009, taking over from Mr Koïchiro Matsuura of Japan who has led the Organization since 1999.
Written: 15/10/2009 , last modified: 15/10/2009
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