UNESCO conference elects 31 new members to executive board

Delegates attending the conference of the main governing body of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris today elected 31 new members to the agency’s executive board.

UNESCO’s General Conference comprises the agency’s Member States and is tasked with determining the agency’s policies and main lines of work. The conference also elects the 58-member Executive Board, which assumes the overall management of the agency.

The ongoing 36th session of the General Conference elected board members to four-year terms on the basis of a geographical allocation.

Austria, France, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and United States were elected from the Western European and other countries grouping to join the executive board. Russia, Czech Republic, Montenegro and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were chosen from Eastern Europe.

Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico were elected from Latin America and the Caribbean, with the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea representing Asia.

The African countries of Nigeria, Namibia, Ethiopia, Mali, Gabon, Malawi, Angola and Gambia are also joining the board, while the Middle East and North Africa will be represented by the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The new members join others elected during the 2009 session of the General Conference and whose mandate will expire in 2013. The board meets twice a year.