PARIS, Mar 19 (APP): Ambassador of Pakistan to France and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad emphasising the alignment of the UN agency’s strategic direction with its objectives said the frameworks needed to be in place to ensure compliance in meeting obligations in observance of financial regulations. The ambassador, presenting Pakistan’s perspective at 219 UNESCO Executive Board here, he underlined the importance of effective budget monitoring and controls, and mobilization of resources to address huge gaps in the achievement of SDGs, according to a Pakistan embassy’s press release received on Tuesday.
Education remains a top priority for Pakistan, he said and lauded UNESCO’s collaboration with Pakistan to empower women by improving their access to digital skills and resources, which reflected a shared vision for gender equality and digital inclusion. He called for UNESCO’s role in creating conditions for people to access their own cultural expressions and those of others by enhancing cooperation and ensuring accessibility of cultural goods and services beyond borders. Pakistan envoy advocates for strategic alignment, financial compliance at UNESCO Further, he reiterated support for priority attached to Africa, gender equality and the SIDS Operational Strategy. The envoy stressed upon the importance of better internal coordination and improved strategic approach for effective representation of UNESCO priorities in global forums. Ambassador Iftikhar expressed strong support for Palestinian people emphasizing that seven decades of injustice, oppression, state terrorism and illegal occupation was the root cause of the problem. He added that indifference, bias and double standards underlying the manner in which UNESCO has so far responded to situation in Gaza has cast serious doubts on its credibility, which could also affect legitimacy of its actions in other situations. The ambassador drew attention of all members and said that in order to fulfil our mission of building peace in the minds of men and women, we must shun partisan approach and work to strengthen intellectual and moral solidarity and enhance cooperation and understanding to constructively bridge the knowledge and action gap that often hinders progress.
