Unesco Director General Koichiro Matsuura has expressed his appreciation for Saudi Arabia's contributions to the promotion of dialogue and advocacy. He made the comments during a meeting in Paris Tuesday with Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Minister of Education and head of the Saudi delegation to the 35th Unesco conference being held in the French capital. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has proved its leading role in the promotion of religious and cultural dialogue during its contribution to the Madrid and New York interfaith conferences,” Matsuura said. According to Matsuura, King Abdullah's recommendations were received with enthusiasm by the participants of the two conferences. The Kingdom, Prince Faisal said, is cooperating with Unesco and seeking to develop aspects of partnership with the organization in different areas. Matsuura noted that the year 2010 has been chosen as the year to focus on the rapprochement between cultures, and that there are many international activities planned that are in the service of humanity. “Unesco hopes that the Kingdom will be one of the leading contributors to the activities and programs during that year,” he added. Prince Faisal noted that Saudi Arabia's message to the world is one of love and peace and that this was proven recently by opening the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (Kaust) to people from all nationalities. “It is important to note that the goal of building “knowledge societies” is one of the overall development objectives in the medium-term strategy for the period between 2008 and 2013,” Prince Faisal said during the Unesco conference. “It is necessary to develop a common understanding by establishing an information society that every individual can access. This will have a great impact on the level of freedom of expression and the quality of education. All of these goals should be achieved by the year 2015 under agreed upon international development goals,” he said.
