Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Quang Hiệu addresses the UNESCO meeting in Paris. — VNA/VNS Photo

PARIS — Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Quang Hiệu attended the plenary meeting of the UNESCO Executive Board's 214th session on April 4-5 in Paris, France.

Speaking at the event, Hiệu stressed that Việt Nam always attaches great importance to multilateral cooperation and the role of UNESCO, and commits to contribute more actively to the organisation's activities as a member of its Executive Board for the 2021-25 term.

During the session, he suggested that UNESCO take specific steps in the fields of education, culture, science, and information and communication to implement the medium-term vision and strategy for the 2022-29 period and the programme and budget for 2022-25; promote several new issues such as open science, ethics in artificial intelligence, and the future of education; and contribute to the organisation of the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in September 2022 in New York and the upcoming preparatory meeting in Paris.

The UNESCO Executive Board’s session will last until April 13, discussing more than 50 topics on the organisation's activities.

It is expected to approve a list of new and expanded global geoparks, including Việt Nam’s Non Nước Cao Bằng.

The head of the Vietnamese delegation also had a meeting with the President of the UNESCO General Conference and the heads of other countries’ delegations to promote multilateral cooperation and campaign for Việt Nam's candidacy as a member of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Convention 2003) for the 2022-26 term.

Deputy FM Hiệu also met UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, its Deputy Director-General and the President of the Intergovernmental Committee to discuss how to intensify cooperation in the future to realise the Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral collaboration in the 2021-25 period signed last year within the visit to UNESCO headquarters by Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính.