10th Annual Meeting of the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors

The 10th Annual Meeting of the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors took place on June 29th, 2010 in the headquarters of the international organisation in Paris, and this was the first official meeting of the Ambassadors with the Director-General of UNESCO, Mrs Irina Bokova, who undertook her duties in November 2009, following the end of Mr Koichiro Matsuura’s service, who had been the Director-General of UNESCO for 8 consecutive years.

Mrs Bokova opened the works of the Meeting with a speech that re-defined the actions of the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors, calling them to particularly emphasise on the promotion of culture and humanism as well as the guarantee of education for all up to 2015, so that this important developmental objective of UN for the Millennium is accomplished.

The viewing of a documentary followed that presented the multidimensional work of the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors during the past few years and then, the Ambassadors presented their action during 2009.

The action of the Greek Ambassador, Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, created a particular impression on the audience as it includes humanitarian and cultural activities of international range, such as the international conference for climate change which was organised in Athens in June 2009 under the UNESCO auspices and in collaboration with Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize Award 2007, the “End Human Trafficking Now!” campaign, that began in Athens in 2006 and the organisation of the international conference on human trafficking which will take place in Luxor, Egypt, in December 2010; the “1GOAL: Education for All” campaign, the completion of the First Oncological Hospital for children in Greece by “ELPIDA” Association, the financing of the “Centre for Hellenistic Studies” in the Library of Alexandria, and a lot more activities.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Mrs Irina Bokova, spoke with warm words about the offer of the Greek Ambassador to the work of UNESCO, while the Ambassadors participated in the annual meeting, responded positively to the call of Mrs Vardinoyannis for participating in the international campaign for the improvement of the image of Greece that has been affected by the crisis. The famous composer, Jean Michel Jarre, was the first who spoke of his ardent encouragement for the campaign, and who had already supported Mrs Vardinoyannis with his statements, in the beginning of June 2010, when he was in Athens. 

Also, Mrs Marianna Vardinoyannis initiative for an international campaign in favour of Greece was promised to be supported by, inter alia, Claudia Cardinale as well as Princess Firyal of Jordan who congratulated the Greek Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO on her actions and personality.

Mrs Vardinoyannis stated: “The Ambassadors’ response to my call for support of Greece was very touching, proving that the Greek spirit and culture are still highly regarded by the world community”.