Ethiopia: Country Can Exploit Opportunity in Unesco Now - Ambassador

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Addis Ababa — Ethiopia could exploit the potential opportunities presented in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in the wake of the recently elected Bulgarian Director General, Irina Bokova, the Bulgarian Ambassador in Addis Ababa said. The familiarity of the new Director General with Africa's development needs and challenges and her positive position toward the Continent makes her an asset that could be put to use through the Embassy here, he said.




In an exclusive interview with The Daily Monitor, the Bulgarian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Svetlozar Panov, said Ethiopia occupies an important place for the Bulgarian nation. However, relations between the two countries is not as it used to be in the past, he said and went on to add, efforts are being made to change that and that his government would be happy to respond positively to any gesture on the part of the Ethiopian government to strengthen mutual relations further.



The Ambassador considers the coming into office of a Bulgarian Director General who knows a lot about the developing world and has travelled to most African countries as a good opportunity to buttress relations between Ethiopia and Bulgaria and particularly for the former to exploit opportunities being presented by the coming into office of such an individual.



Ambassador Panov says the charter of UNESCO indicates the organization's biggest interest is to support developing nations and yet UNESCO has had problems when it comes to providing the appropriate help to these countries in various sectors of its mandate.



On top of that the role of the Director General of UNESCO is important because it handles education. And the issue of education is of strategic importance in the life of nations. Through the Bulgarian Embassy in Addis, Ethiopia could exploit to the maximum such an opportunity and enjoy its benefits, the Ambassador underscores.



The Ambassador says the incoming Bulgarian Director-General, whom he claims to know personally and as a colleague, knows a lot about Africa and has travelled to its most parts. And this in turn would enable her to define the Continent's priorities as well as what to do and how to do it in her term of office in the coming years.


The election of a Bulgarian into the Director General office is the first for Bulgaria and at the same time she is the first lady for UNESCO after 65 years of the organization's existence.



Ambassador Panov said Ethiopia is one of the important countries in Africa. That is why Bulgaria pays a lot of attention to the relations between the two nations. In the past their relations used to be more active and fruitful. But that ended with the fall of socialism.



There are efforts to strengthen ties between the two countries in various sectors and yet there are areas that need more efforts to facilitate that, the Ambassador underlined. The problem of visa Bulgarians face when coming to Ethiopia is a case in point, according to the Ambassador. Cooperation potential is more than being exploited currently, he added.