 UNESCO headquarters in Paris
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UNESCO’s 58 members voted in the first round to elect a Director General on Monday. Vietnamese Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau was one of the 8 candidates. This is the first time Vietnam had a candidate running for a leading position of a major UN agency, which demonstrates the country’s greater responsibility at multilateral organizations.
After 5 rounds of voting, UNESCO Executive Board will submit a dossier of the winner to the UNESCO General Assembly for approval at a meeting next month.
Strict selection
Since its establishment in 1945, UNESCO has elected 10 Director General. The 11th election will elect a leader for its 4-year term until 2021. Candidates underwent a Q&A session of the Executive Board in April in which each candidate introduced their action plan in 10 minutes and answered questions for 80 minutes.
The candidates hold important position in their countries and have been working at UNESCO. Vietnamese candidate Pham Sanh Chau was an Ambassador and Head of the Vietnamese Permanent Delegation to UNESCO. He is now a special envoy of the Prime Minister for UNESCO affairs.
Vietnam’s first candidate for UNESCO Director General
Vietnam’s candidacy for UNESCO Director General was in its roadmap to become deeply involved in UNESCO activities ever since it joined the agency in 1976. Vietnam has been elected to the Executive Board in the 1976-1983 term and had a representative office at UNESCO in 1982.
Vietnam approved important documents including the Convention on the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritages and another Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The country also hosted important conferences and events such as the Asia-Pacific Conference on Dialogue among Cultures.
Vietnam has contributed opinions to specific areas including illiteracy elimination, community learning centers, and the education of sustainable development and the biosphere reserve model. Vietnam has been elected to the Executive Board 4 times.
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said Vietnam is one of the leading countries and a model in successfully implementing UNESCO programs.
Thanks to its contributions, Vietnam has opportunities to promote its image and received support for its projects on cultural preservation, education, and science. Vietnam has won UNESCO’s recognition for 8 natural and cultural heritages, 11 intangible heritages, 6 documentary heritages, 9 biosphere reserves, and 1 geographical park. UNESCO has recognized the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Physics of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology as Category 2 Centres.
Vietnam’s active role at multilateral organizations
The Vietnamese candidate Pham Sanh Chau has campaigned in more than 30 member countries of the UNESCO Executive Board, during which he introduced Vietnam’s history and culture, and achievements of the renewal process and potential for international cooperation. His action plan and answers at the first voting round showed his experience and profound knowledge of UNESCO activities as well as leadership capability to reform UNESCO.
Other strong contenders for the post of UNESCO Director General include China’s Qian Tang, a UNESCO Director General’s assistant on education, Egypt’s former Minister of Family and Population Moushra Khattab, Qatar’s former Minister of Culture, Hammad bin Al-Kawari, and France’s former Minister of Culture and Communications, Audrey Azoulay.