Jakarta, IO – Indonesia has been elected as a member of the UNESCO Executive Board for the 2023-27 period after winning many votes in the election which took place at the 42nd UNESCO General Conference at its headquarters in Paris, France, on Wednesday (15/11).
Indonesia faced tight competition with eight countries in the Asia-Pacific region which are part of regional Group IV for the six seats at UNESCO Executive Board together with Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, South Korea and Sri Lanka, per Kemlu.go.id, Fri (17/11).
In the voting, Indonesia succeeded in garnering votes from 154 countries, finishing second place in the group.
Mohamad Oemar, Indonesian envoy to France, Andorra, Monaco, who is also the Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Indonesia to UNESCO, expressed his gratitude for the institution’s support. He said this was proof of international confidence in Indonesia’s growing global stature.
“Indonesia is committed to being actively involved and collaborating with other member countries to ensure progress and sustainability in various fields that become UNESCO’s area of focus,” said Oemar.
Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region that were also elected as members of the Executive Council are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Australia. In this election, there were 188 UNESCO member countries present and only 181 countries were eligible to vote.
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As a member of the Executive Council, Indonesia and other countries are tasked with ensuring the achievement of UNESCO’s vision of building peace through international cooperation in various fields.
The Executive Board is one of UNESCO’s two most important governing bodies after the General Conference. The Executive Council consists of 58 member states from six Regional Groups under the purview of the UNESCO General Conference. (un)