Chinese vice premier hails ties with UNESCO, vows further cooperation

Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong has said that China's ties with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are now at their best in history, vowing further cooperation.

She made the remarks in Paris on Thursday when she met Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova and attended the opening ceremony of an exhibition, which, entitled the Silk Road and the Creative Cities, was co-sponsored by the Chinese government and UNESCO.

Liu recalled that Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to UNESCO headquarters in March spoke highly of UNESCO's role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

Liu pledged China's continuous support for the programs of education for all, lifelong learning, and sustainable development, which has been promoted by UNESCO. She said China will work with the Paris-based UN organization to address information technology-generated challenges facing the education sector.

China will actively take part in key programs on ocean, civilization, geosciences, and climate change, support the Creative Cities project and conduct exchanges and cooperation regarding scientific innovation, she said.

Liu added that China will step up support for world heritage preservation and the preservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage.

Moreover, she said China will send more outstanding Chinese young people to do internships or work at UNESCO.

Bokova in her speech delivered to welcome Liu's visit to the UNESCO headquarters said China has made universally acknowledged achievements in the fields of education, science and technology, and culture, and its cooperation with UNESCO has been fruitful.

Thanking China for supporting female and children educational development in Africa, Bokova expressed willingness to lift UNESCO's exchanges and cooperation with China to a new level.