MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. A candidate for the position of the UNESCO director general, representing Egypt, Mushira Khattab, is impressed by the level of cooperation and co-existence of different religions in Russia.
"I am truly amazed by one thing - in Russia live together people of different religions, I am very impressed," she said. "This is what we would like to see cooperation among religions, this is how we, Muslims, want to feel Christians and Jews - all religions. Those are relations we want to see in attitude of Christians to Muslims, Jews and other religions."
"I can see harmony, I can see respect, and this is wonderful," she said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 television channel on Sunday.
"I am very happy to visit Russia at last," she said. "This is a country I love: you have so much history, so much culture, I mean, Moscow is an open museum."
The candidate for the high position at UNESCO from Egypt also added her country "is happy to support and expand strong mutual relations with Russia" for many decades.
"We are very satisfied with cooperation and support from Russia," she said in conclusion.
The current UNESCO secretary general, Irina Bokova, takes the position for the second term already, and her mandate expires this year. Election is due at the 40 session of the Organization’s General Conference in autumn. By now, four countries have nominated candidates - Vietnam, Egypt, Qatar and Lebanon. The final list of candidates will be published on April 1, 2017.