The Director-General thanked the Minister for inviting her to speak at the Annual Ambassadors' Conference, noting how impressive the meeting was and how honoured she was to have this opportunity. 

The meeting was an opportunity to review the strong cooperation between Turkey and UNESCO. The Foreign Minister underlined his intention to deepen relations across the board, including to advance the Organisation's reform. He thanked the Director-General for her efforts to strengthen UNESCO's engagement with Iraq and Syria, and pointed to Turkey's role in supporting refugees, numbering today 1.6 million from Syria alone.

The Director-General expressed thanks to Turkey for its strong support, in particular through extra-budgetary resources. This included to the UNESCO Emergency Fund as a crucial sign of support.

She highlighted the need to enhance education in all peacebuilding efforts, including across the region -- as well as the importance of protecting cultural heritage and diversity, and to prevent illicit trafficking of cultural goods. She expressed the openness of UNESCO to cooperate ever more with Turkey in these areas.

Irina Bokova looked forward to deepening cooperation with Turkey -- including in the context of the Organisation's 70th anniversary as well as in relations with the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA). The Minister thanked the Director-General and expressed an strong interest in deepening cooperation.