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| | UNESCO Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, paid his first official visit to the Commonwealth of Dominica
24-02-2005 - The Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, paid his first official visit to Dominica from 17 to 19 February 2005. It was the first official visit of a UNESCO Director-General to the country. He was welcomed by Mr Julian Johnson, Member of the Executive Board. |
Mr Matsuura met with the President, Mr Nicholas J.O. Liverpool and other senior members of the Government, including Mr Vincent Henderson, acting Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Human Resources Development, Sports & Youth Affairs, Mr Herbert Sabaroche, Minister of Health and Social Security, Mr Ambrose George, Minister of Agriculture and Environment; and Ms Loreen Bannis-Roberts, acting Minister of Education and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education. He also attended a meeting of Cabinet Ministers, chaired by Mr Henderson.
A wide range of issues were discussed to strengthen cooperation between UNESCO and Dominica and, in particular the safeguarding of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, the preservation of the Man and Biosphere Reserves and disaster preparedness. The Director-General appreciated the beauty of “The Nature Island” covered by lush rainforest, in the course of his visits to the Morne Trois Pitons World Heritage Site - Emerald Pool and to the Syndicate biodiversity Trail / Parrot Sanctuary.
The Director-General also participated in the joint Dominica Government/UNESCO ceremony to launch the Regional Conference on Intangible Cultural Heritage with a cultural presentation of the rich Dominican folklore hosted by the Head of State.
During his visit to the Carib Territory, the Director-General met the Carib (Kalinago) Chief, Mr Charles Williams, and launched two UNESCO cross-cutting Theme Projects in association with the Dominica National Commission for UNESCO: the Youth Poverty Alleviation Project through Tourism and Heritage (Youth PATH), and the Integrated Community Media project for Indigenous Communities in the Caribbean, at the Carib Model Village. On this occasion, the acting Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Human Resources Development, Sports & Youth Affairs announced the intention of Dominica to ratify the International Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Paris, 17 October 2003).
Mr Matsuura also met NGO’s leaders in Dominica; the children of the ASPnet Sandwatch Programme of Dublanc primary school, aware of the importance of a clean environment, who collect garbage material to develop their own creative art; and he visited the Workshop for the blind and Dominica Association of Disabled People (DADP).
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Flash Info 027-2005
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