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| | Official visit of the Director-General of UNESCO to Mauritius (12-13 January 2005)
17-01-2005 - On the invitation of the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Paul Beranger, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, paid an official visit to Mauritius on 12-13 January 2005 and participated in the High Level Segment of the International Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). (See Flash Info n° 008-2005) |
The Director-General held talks with Mr R. R. Bundhun, Vice President and acting President of the Republic, Mr P. Beranger, Prime Minister, Mr P. Jugnauth, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ms Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoonun, Minister of Arts and Culture, and Mr Steven Obeegadoo, Minister of National Education and President of the Mauritius National Commission for UNESCO.
The Director-General expressed his condolences to the Mauritian authorities for the numerous victims of the tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean countries and the heavy losses suffered on the Ile of Rodriguez. He expressed his regrets that the early warning system functioning in the Pacific had not been set up in the Indian Ocean and announced his intention to propose the establishment for the first quarter of 2007 of a global tsunami early warning system during the High Level Segment of the International SIDS Meeting, of which an important component will be the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The first component of the global system, which would be established in close collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization and other partners, would be for the Indian Ocean and would cost 30 million dollars. The Mauritius authorities congratulated the Director-General for the considerable efforts undertaken by UNESCO in this regard and suggested that a global system of coordination of bodies dealing other types of natural disaster (cyclones, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, earthquakes) should also be considered.
In the field of education, the Director-General congratulated the Mauritian authorities on the positive results achieved in regard to Education for All, as wellas on the new legislation concerning the extension of compulsory schooling to ten years. In the Director-General’s view, with some extra effort, Mauritius could be among the Sub-Saharan African countries to achieve the main Education for All goals by 2015.
In the field of culture, the Mauritian authorities highlighted their interest in the protection of national archives as well as cultural heritage and their intention to propose two Mauritian sites, Le Mont Le Morne and Aapravasi-Ghat, for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The Director-General welcomed the ratification by Mauritius of the Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which demonstrate the importance that Mauritius attaches to the preservation of intangible heritage as an essential component of cultural diversity.
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Flash Info 007-2005
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