Paris - Asean member countries will stand to gain if Malaysia gets elected into the Unesco executive board, Brunei Education Minister Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman Taib said here Thursday.
"Certainly the interests and concerns of Asean can be brought into the arena in a much bigger perspective," he said in an interview with Bernama on the third day of the 34th Unesco General Conference.
"I have no doubt Malaysia will be able to play that role and very well prepared for it," he said of Malaysia`s decision to vie for a seat in the 58-member executive board. The election will be held on Oct 24.
Meeting every two years, the General Conference is the decision-making body, setting general policies and defines programme lines for the 193-member organisation created in 1946 to promote world peace.
Abdul Rahman said Malaysia would also be able to enhance the cooperation between Unesco and Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (Seameo) should it wins the Unesco seat.
"Next year will be Malaysia`s turn to host the Seameo meeting and we will see something concrete in March.
"I`m sure with (Malaysian Education Minister) Datuk (Seri) Hishammuddin (Tun Hussein) stewardship, we will develop the working relationship with Unesco to a higher plain, he said.
Unesco Director-General Koichiro Matsuura had indicated to the Asean Education Ministers over lunch on Wednesday that he wanted the interaction and cooperation between the two organisations be brought up to a much higher level.
"To a certain extent, Unesco and Seameo have been working together, they have been attending Seameo meetings for a number of years," said Abdul Rahman.
On Unesco, he said, Brunei had reaped much benefit since joining the organisation two years ago as its 191st member.
"One of the things that comes to mind immediately is the interaction and networking between us and other members of Unesco," he said.
He said Unesco had various institutions all over the world and had organised a number of programmes that were beneficial particularly to developing countries.
"At the moment we are evolving a new system of education in Brunei. We think Unesco and its members have got the experience to help us in ensuring that we are going in the right direction.
"This is something that we think we can pursue with countries like Malaysia which has done a lot of good work," he added.
Source: www.bernama.com.my (19 Oktober 2007)
