Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal met UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura and impressed upon him India’’s keenness for establishing the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Peace Education and Sustainable Development.
During the meeting in Paris on Thursday, Sibal said this proposed Category-I UNESCO institute should be a symbol of rich heritage and values of peace and diversity that India stands for.
He also pointed out that as this would be the first Category-I Institute of UNESCO to be established in the Asia Pacific region.
“The Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO had already started extensive consultations with member States of the Asia Pacific region,” he added.
It was decided that UNESCO officials and HRD officials would sit down to resolve outstanding issues mentioned in the interim report of the UNESCO mission team’’s report.
Sibal also thanked Matsuura for his support for installing a statue of Shri Aurobindo at the UNESCO Headquarters, which would be unveiled on September 16. He also thanked Matsuura for taking a keen interest in the commemoration programme envisaged for the 150th Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in 2011.
Matsuura thanked Sibal for his contribution to the objectives of UNESCO and complemented him for bringing a new global perspective to the field of science and technology when he was a minister of that department.
