Interview: "Whenever we see our engagement, we see also China's support and China's commitment": UNESCO Director-General

"Whenever we see our engagement, we see also China's support and China's commitment," Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations (UN) Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), told Xinhua in an exclusive interview, as both UN and UNESCO celebrate their 70th anniversary this year.

"With China, we have a very positive expanding cooperation, both bilateral between UNESCO and China, as well as jointly working for African countries where China supports already many programs," Bokova said.

"I can only be satisfied with this very active engagement, because it gives substance to our cooperation, it goes into the heart of our mandate of promoting quality education and social inclusion," she said.

Apart from helping African countries, China and UNESCO are also working hard in promoting the education in the rural areas.

The director-general of UNESCO recognized China's enhanced efforts on improving the quality of education in rural areas.

Regarding the protection of culture identities, Bokova said it is not simply a concern of experts, but it has become a humanitarian concern, and a security concern even.

She welcomed the efforts made by China in protecting its culture identity. "Chinese are so attached to their culture. And this is not only a source of pride, but it is also a sort of looking into the future," Bokova said.

According to her, China and UNESCO are moving forward to expand their joint action in the least developed countries, and to focus on some of the bottle necks.

"It's a very fruitful cooperation, and I would like to thank China, for its great support for UNESCO," Bokova told Xinhua.

"I think we are in the process of a reflection of how to do, how to equip the organization, to the implementation of the new sustainable development agenda, the so-called post 2015 agenda," she continued.

"I think China will continue to be a very active support for the policies," she stressed.

For Bokova, China and UNESCO also share the same idea about humanism.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the UN and UNESCO, which were founded respectively on Oct. 24 and Nov. 16, 1945. For Bokova, the two anniversaries are "very symbolic."

"Both are a call for peace, both are a different kind of cooperation, and it was very courageous at those times after the most devastating war," explained Bokova, adding that "the governments of the United Nations were thinking about how to bring peace through cooperation, education, science, culture and communication."

The director-general of UNESCO thought it was a very different approach, the approach of soft power, that should bring peace and stability to the world.

With the increasing violence and intolerance around the world, Bokova said that reforms are necessary because the world is changing.

Speaking of the destruction of culture and cultural heritage, the director-general believes that "the questions about identities, about mutual enrichment of cultures, of influences, of mutual respect, is probably one of the most important objective and responsibility that we have if we want to live in peace."

"The globalization has brought different ways of communication, people are looking for their rights and possibilities for development," she explained.

"What has been through 70 years ago, 50 or even 15 years ago, needs a change nowadays," Bokova continued. Enditem