Financiarul

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Roberta Anastase held a lecture in the opening of the Conference of the MEPs for UNESCO, held in Paris, in which she stressed the importance of the favouring of a stronger presence of the civil society in the public life. “We want to favour a stronger presence of the civil society in the public life, as well as a stronger voice making political decisions.

Our societies need a healthy, relevant and constructive debate for formulating the best public policies. And UNESCO is an organization with the vocation of acting like a catalyst, mediation factor between the political scene and the civil society” said Anastase.

Also, in her speech, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest stressed the importance of the involvement of the political factor for the materialization of international projects, such as the educational ones. “We have to admit that the UNESCO’s values can be efficiently promoted only with a permanent, active and constructive involvement of the political factor.

I think first of the need to adjust our educational systems in order to cope with the changes in the structure of the economy, in mentalities and social needs. This is a challenge and a political priority in Romania, and, I am sure, in many other countries. Education has to educated in a civic spirit, to cultivate in a civic spirit, to cultivate the openness and to build minds adapted to the future needs of the society, ” said Roberta Anastase.

She referred to the experience of Romania in the creation of a parliamentary committee for the relationship with UNESCO, encouraging the member states to create similar structures for generating an inter-parliamentary network. The conference in Paris was attended, along with MPs assuring the relationship of the legislative bodies with UNESCO, representatives of the parliamentary organizations of UNESCO, the Inter-parliamentary Union respectively, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophony, UNESCO, the Interparliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union, and others.

During the conference, approached were themes such as education, the climate changes, the human rights to create similar structures for generating an inter-parliamentary network. The event is in the line with the efforts of UNESCO to strengthen the cooperation with the legislative forums of the member states. On the sidelines of the conference, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies had a bilateral meeting with the elected director general of UNESCO and Bulgaria’s ambassador in Paris Irina Bokova.

On this occasion Roberta Anastase remarked with satisfaction that the election of Irina Bokova is a success both for Bulgaria assuring her of the support of Romania in her new mandate. Speaking about the projects important for Romania within UNESCO, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies asked Bokova to take into account the drawing up of a strategy allowing the continuation of the operation in optimum conditions of the European Center for Upper Studies (CEPES-UNESCO), an international institution under UNESCO, headquartered in Bucharest.

Anstase also stressed the importance of the ensuring of an institutinalized cooperation framework for the MPs of the member countries involved in the relationship with UNESCO. She mentioned, in this respect, that Romania is supporting the setting up of a Forum of the MPs, after the model of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, UIP, according to a press release sent to Agerpres.

The new director general of the Organization spoke about the excellent cooperation with the Romanian party within UNESCO. Mentioning her main concerns at the beginning of her mandate, the elected general manager of UNESCO voiced her wish to play an active role in the reforming of the institution and the development of projects with the member countries.