PARIS PARIS, Oct 30 (Hina) - Addressing the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris on Saturday, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said Croatia ascribed great importance to cooperation with the UNESCO, and advocated improvement in its
work to more successfully realise its role in international cooperation in education, science, and culture.
PARIS, Oct 30 (Hina) - Addressing the UNESCO General Assembly in
Paris on Saturday, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said
Croatia ascribed great importance to cooperation with the UNESCO,
and advocated improvement in its work to more successfully realise
its role in international cooperation in education, science, and
culture.#L#
"UNESCO should (...) reinforce its role as a global intellectual
forum and as a technical agency," Minister Granic said. He also
urged institutional improvement in UNESCO's work to facilitate
effective activity.
In choosing priority areas for its tasks, the UNESCO should be
guided by the goals of its original mandate, and "contribute to
peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations
through education, science and culture," he said.
"UNESCO cannot and should not be responsible for peace in the world.
Keeping to its mandate is the precondition for success," Croatia's
foreign minister asserted.
In a brief address to the press, Granic said Croatia saw UNESCO as
"one of the most significant of UN's specialised agencies."
He added Croatia was very active at the UNESCO and had been
especially interested in having its cultural and natural heritage
evaluated, recognised, and protected.
"UNESCO and its managing director took a very significant step in
1991. They had no power to defend (the southern Croatian port of)
Dubrovnik from (Serb) aggression with weapons, but they protected
it with their flag, which was a very significant, symbolic act. And
we shall never forget it," Minister Granic said.
He pointed out that as a member-country, Croatia was in general
active in the entire UN system. He expressed satisfaction with the
fact that on Friday, Croatia had become a member of the UN Economic-
Social Council.
"That is a very significant recognition to Croatia, because it was
won in competition with very strong candidates, like Hungary and
Lithuania," Granic said.
Earlier today, the foreign minister held talks with the secretary-
general at the French Foreign Ministry, Loico Hennekin, discussing
bilateral relations in view of European integration and relations
with the European Union, and open issues in connection with
Croatia's access to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
According to Granic, the latter topic focused on "how to find
compromises which would not be a precedent prior to the new
negotiating round at the WTO in Seattle."
"Little steps forward have been made, and it has also been agreed
that experts should continue the work," he concluded.
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