For more than 30 years, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO has annually organised its ‘Staff Exchange Programme’ (STEP), bringing together staff members from the National Commissions of China, Japan and Thailand, as well as occasional invitees from other National Commissions in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. This programme has proven to be quite successful for strengthening cooperation and promoting constructive dialogue, particularly between neighboring National Commissions.

For this year’s programme, a total of five participants from the Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese National Commissions visited the Korean National Commission, where they engaged in an extensive two-day Thematic Discussion on the topic of ‘UNESCO, National Commissions and Various Partners’. The discussions provided a forum for exchanging information, challenges and good practices associated with the National Commissions’ interactions with various partners, including the Category 2 Centres, UNESCO Clubs and Associations, the UNESCO Chair and UNITWIN Network, ASPnet schools, etc.

Participants had the opportunity to meet with the secretariat of APCEIU (Asia-Pacific Centre for Education for International Understanding), a Category 2 Centre in Seoul, and they also traveled to Jeju Island, where they toured various MAB (Man and Biosphere), GGN (Global Geoparks Network) and UNESCO World Heritage sites.

One of the participants in this year’s STEP programme was Mr. PHAM Cao Phong, the Secretary-General of the Vietnamese National Commission, who took advantage of his visit to sign an MoU with the Korean National Commission, on behalf of his National Commission. Mr. MIN Dong-seok, the Secretary-General of the Korean National Commission, commended the occasion by expressing his hopes that the MOU might serve as an exemplary case of close cooperation between National Commissions.