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UNESCO chief plans to step up cooperation during her visit to Russia

Audrey Azoulay noted that Russia is "an important pillar of the Organization and its active participant"

UNESCO'S Director-General Audrey Azoulay AP Photo/Michel Euler

UNESCO'S Director-General Audrey Azoulay

© AP Photo/Michel Euler

PARIS, March 5. /TASS/. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay believes her first official visit to Russia will help strengthen bilateral cooperation in tackling the issues facing the modern world.

"I am glad to travel to Russia to pay a visit, which is very important for UNESCO," she said in an exclusive interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman ahead of her visit to Russia on Tuesday.

Azoulay noted that "Russia is a great country, which is an important pillar of the Organization and its active participant."

Commenting on the program of her visit, the UNESCO chief stressed that she assigned high priority to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She plans to "discuss the multilateralism issue and how UNESCO can contribute to efforts to deal with the challenges of the modern world." She also plans to "raise the issues related to bilateral cooperation between the Organization and Russia," which has a rich history.

Azoulay added that she would also travel to Russia’s Tatarstan Region where she is scheduled to meet with its head Rustam Minnikhanov. "Also, I will be happy to open the congress, which will unite all the UNESCO Chairs in Russia, and they are numerous," she pointed out. Russia currently has 60 chairs and ranks second in the world in terms of the scale of their network.

The UNESCO press service earlier reported that Azoulay who was appointed its Director-General in late 2017 would pay her visit official visit to Russia on March 5-7. She also plans to familiarize herself with the Moscow Kremlin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and meet with members of the Russian Commission for UNESCO.

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Vladimir Putin UNESCO

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