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On 13 February, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Principality of Monaco, Mr José Badia, signed a Framework Agreement between UNESCO and Monaco. The signing ceremony took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
The Director-General welcomed the continuing and renewed commitment of the Principality of Monaco to support the work of UNESCO and underlined that "the framework agreement will help provide stronger and more wide-ranging substance as well as a more strategic focus to our cooperation.”
The Framework Agreement is based on UNESCO Programme and budget for 2014 to 2017 and aims at strengthening collaboration with Monaco. Under the term of the Agreement, Monaco is engaged to contribute to UNESCO, an extrabudgetary contribution of a minimum amount of 200,000 euros annually.
Mr Badia declared that "the framework agreement embodies Monaco’s willingness to formalize and strengthen its commitment to UNESCO’s action and its support for its priorities", ranging from Africa, gender equality and the empowerment of girls, the protection of the environment, to more specifically the protection of seas and oceans.
The Framework Agreement reflects an ever deepening and successful cooperation between UNESCO and Monaco in recent years, in such shared priority areas as cultural heritage, girls’ education and preservation of the ocean through marine science.