UNESCO Director-General Receives Abu-Ghazaleh in Paris

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh tackled the coordination between the UNESCO and the Global Alliance, under the Honorary Presidency of the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon

PARIS --- March 4, 2010 --- UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova received on Wednesday at the UNESCO Headquarters Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman and CEO of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), chairman of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA-GAID).

Both parties discussed a number of issues relating to education on regional and international levels.

During the meeting, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh tackled the coordination between the UNESCO and the Global Alliance, under the Honorary Presidency of Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, to prepare the Matrix through the use of ICT project to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were set during the World Summit in 2000 and called for in the eighth Millennium Development Goal.

Moreover, they discussed GAID?s Project ?Educating All in the Knowledge Society? and the need to merge it within the UNESCO?s project ?Education for All?.

Abu-Ghazaleh called on the UNESCO for a joint presidency of the GAID?s educational project.

In addition, Ms. Bokova and Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh underlined what have been achieved through the partnership agreement signed between the UNESCO and TAG-Org in August 2009 which aims at working together on the building of inclusive knowledge societies and on the promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support education, science and culture in the Arab region.

The agreement reflects the commitment of both TAG-Org and UNESCO to mobilize partners to build Arab knowledge societies, notably by increasing access to and measuring the use of ICT in different sectors of society, enhancing teacher training, and promoting Internet Domain Names in the Arabic script.

Prior to the meeting, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh delivered the key remarks and headed the closing session of the Expert Meeting ?Knowledge Societies: The Way Forward? March 1-2, 2010 organized by UNESCO in Paris.

National and regional policy makers, academics, representatives from civil society, private sector and intergovernmental organizations from different parts of the world took part in this venue to exchange their experiences and ideas on the need to examine the theory of knowledge societies and to connect it with practice.

Mr. Abu- Ghazaleh has been appointed as the Chairman of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA-GAID) to succeed Craig Baret, Intel CEO.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh, who became the first Arab to chair the global Information Society body, received a letter from the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) HE Sha Zukang inviting him to lead the Alliance, composed of representatives from public, private and civil society sectors as well as international organizations.

GAID was established by the UN Secretary General in March 2006, to meet the need for an inclusive, multi-stakeholder global forum and platform for policy dialogue and partnership building, to promote the use of ICT for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to enable and catalyze multi-stakeholder partnerships for action under the GAID umbrella.

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