SECRETARY ROMULO TO LEAD PHILDEL TO 34^TH UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE, TO EMPHASIZE PHILIPPINE INITIATIVES IN INTERFAITH DIALOGUE FOR PEACE AND LIFELONG EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ERADICATION

13 October 2007—Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, who leads the Philippine delegation, will deliver the country policy statement in the biennial gathering of the 193-member UNESCO to be held from October 16 to November 3 and emphasize the continuing importance of the global partnership with UNESCO to achieve lasting peace and sustainable development and underscore the Philippines' contributions in support of the country's social, educational and cultural development.

Secretary Romulo said the Philippines will highlight and advance development initiatives in education, science, culture and communication and information.  In education, Secretary Romulo will rally international support for the Philippine proposal to host a Center for Lifelong Learning Education for Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia. The UNESCO Executive Board had already expressed support for this Philippine initiative, which is seen to become a "future laboratory for the exchange of knowledge and best practices will contribute to regional capacity-building.

 "Advancements in these areas will show our forward march towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) and with continued cooperation at the UNESCO, and between and among developed and developing nations, we will make more headway for the poor and marginalized." Secretary Romulo said.

The Midterm Progress report indicated that Filipinos living in extreme poverty has been drastically cut from 20.4% in 1990 to 10.2 % in 2006.

During the 34^th UNESCO General Conference, Secretary Romulo is expected to issue a call for UNESCO members to support the debt-for-development initiative, which Romulo emphasized, is "crucial to ongoing international efforts to uplift conditions of the poor and marginalized in heavily-indebted and moderately indebted countries."

The Philippines is a key advocate of interfaith dialogue as strategy for national, regional and global peace and development in the United Nations and other international fora and strongly supports UNESCO's flagship activity on the dialogue for peace.

"We will highlight the continuing commitment of our Government and civil society, particularly in the Southern Philippines and our own efforts in the United Nations, to bring together peoples of different faiths in mutual respect," said Secretary Romulo.

"We will also advocate the integration of interfaith dialogue in school curricula and textbooks," added Secretary Romulo.

In information, Secretary Romulo said the Philippines will call on other UNESCO member-states to fully harness information and communications technology (ICT) as a powerful development tool, said Secretary Romulo.

"ICT should bridge and divide, include rather than exclude. ICT should be rightly used as building blocks of social cohesion. With ICT at our disposal, global information networks can be harnessed to build knowledge societies through enhanced universal access to information," said Secretary Romulo. END

/Allan