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General Conference
Twenty-fifth Session
Information Document

Paris 1989 Confkrence g&kale Conferencia General

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Document d’information Documentos de informaci6n

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25 WINF .14
24 October 1989
Original: English

Speech by
Mr Anwar Ibrahim,
President of the twenty-fifth session
of the General Conference

of the

United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization
(Unesco)

on the occasion of the official visit of

His Excellency Mr Mario Soares,
President of the Portuguese Republic

Paris, 23 October 1989

2 4 UC-T,
1989
 25 CVIBF.14

,
Your Excellency, Mr Mario Soares, President of the Portuguese Republic,
Excellencies,
Mr Chairman of the Executive Board,
Mr Director-General,
.Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a great privilege for me, in my capacity as President of the

twenty-fifth session of the General Conference of Unesco, to welcome here
today His Excellency Mr Mario Soares, President of the Portuguese Republic.

Mr President,

Your presence here is undoubtedly a manifestation of the profound

commitment of your country, Portugal, to the cause of international
co-operation and to the ideals that Unesco stands for; and your participation
in our deliberations here testifies to the importance you have personally
attached to the role that your Government and people must play, together with
the rest of the world community, in fostering the global, intellectual and
moral solidarity of mankind upon which rest the defences. of lasting peace for
this generation and for generations to come. It is, therefore, with great
appreciation and interest that we look forward to your message to the General
Conference.

Your Excellencey,

The current twenty-fifth session of the General Conference, among other

documents, is considering the Draft Medium-Term Plan for 1990-1995 which
addresses the challenges confronting mankind the world over, which, as the
present century is drawing to a close, Unesco must respond to, meaningfully
and effectively, through planned actions in its established fields of
competence: education, science and culture. These actions, needless to say,
place the highest demands on the international community’s resources of
intelligence and creativity.

May I take this opportunity to inform Your Excellency that, from the
Chair, I could not help but see that, in their deliberations, the delegations
to this Conference from all Member States have demonstrated the highest degree
of determination and conviction regarding what they believe to be the duty of
the international community: to correct inequalities and imbalances within and
between nations so that universality is achieved and human indignity erased
from the face of the earth through the eradication of the illiteracy that
hampers the progress of the developing countries, through the elimination of
technological gaps between the rich and the poor nations and, through the
maintenance of a free two-way flow of information and communication between
nations. This determination and conviction, I believe, augurs well for the
future of mankind. And your presence at this session of the General
Conference, Sir, will undoubtedly contribute to the further strengthening of
that conviction and determination.
25.WINF.14 - page 2

Now, on a personal note, Mr President, the Portuguese people, as history

records it, has contributed in no small measure to the wealth of the world’s
heritage of intellectual and creative expression. Portugal has charted a
course of history for itself in the past. Now Portugal is known as the land
of great discoverers, such as Vasco da Gama and Pedro de Marcorena. It is
also the land of great poets such as Luis de Camoes and Fernando Pessoa. In
the South-East Asian region, where I come from, Alfonso de Albuquerque left
his footprint in Goa and in Malacca, where a Portuguese community is still to
be found and where a great gate of the famous Portuguese fort, A Famosa, still
stands.

So much for the past, Mr President. Now, in contemporary times, we are

greatly encouraged to see that Unesco’s authentic commitment to the universal
endeavour to enhance human dignity the world over is well matched by the
characteristic role played by Portugal in the affairs of our Organization
since 1965, when it rejoined us. It was with great joy and emotion that
Portugal was welcomed back to our fold on that occasion; and it is with the
same enthusiasm that we are happy to welcome your Excellency to our meeting
today.