The President expressed his sincere appreciation to the Director-General for her strong leadership that resulted in the strengthening of UNESCO’s role in education, science and culture. He underscored that in his view as President of the Pacific Community, her presence and commitment at the Samoa International Conference on SIDS in September 2014 sent a strong message and greatly contributed to the success of that important event.

The President reiterated the particular importance of the conservation policy and marine protected areas to Palau, noting that Palau’ s World Heritage property “Rock Islands Southern Lagoon” bolstered the development of eco-tourism in the country.

The Director-General reiterated UNESCO’s commitment to actively participate in the world’s effort to address key sustainable development challenges. She highlighted that this year is exceptionally rich with important events related to the post-2015 agenda, ranging from the Addis Ababa Conference on Financing for Development to negotiations on COP-21 in Paris.

“The July Scientific Conference and COP-21 will be important milestones in the process of engaging stakeholders and in particular Governments, in the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals and their implementation,” said the Director-General.

“The concept of Blue Economy – or even better Blue Horizon – will require active and dedicated participation of all stakeholders and UNESCO’s unique multidisciplinary mandate is of particular relevance in this context,” said the Director-General.