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UNESCO to resume cooperation with Libya

22 September 2011 22:30 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova on Thursday welcomed the UN General Assembly’s recognition of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) as the country’s legitimate government and announced to resume cooperation with the NTC, APA reports quoting CXinhua.

"I welcome the return of Libya to the international community," Bokova said in a statement and expressed willingness to placing UNESCO expertise at the disposal of the new Libyan authorities.

"We stand ready to help the Libyan people in advancing human dignity and rights as part of a new era," she added, laying out fields of cooperation in education, culture, science and media development.

Bokova hopes via these cooperations to sustain the Libyan people’s "aspirations and efforts promoting human rights, freedom of expression, justice and women’s empowerment," according to the statement.

Looking into the future, UNESCO would prioritize on agenda the rebuilding of the educational system at all levels and the media landscape to favour the emergence of a pluralistic media environment and meanwhile plan an international meeting of experts and stakeholders to identify the needs, and measures to preserve cultural heritage in Libya.

Libya has five sites classified by UNESCO as World Heritage sites, including ruins of Roman cities.

The Paris-based UN organization terminated all cooperation with Libya on March 2 following the UN Security Council resolution 1970.