UNESCO Head to arrive in Ghana on Thursday

Accra, Jan. 6, GNA - Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is to arrive in Ghana on Thursday January 8, for a three-day visit, at the invitation of President John Agyekum Kufuor. Mr Matsuura's wife, Takako and a team of four from the UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, would accompany him.

An official statement issued in Accra by the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, said the UNESCO Head would hold private discussions with his host, President Kufuor, which would focus on the UN body's support for African Member States to effectively implement the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

The NEPAD seeks to prioritise education as the catalyst for development.

Mr Matsuura, the statement said, would also hold a joint working session with Ministers whose fields relate to UNESCO as well as representatives of UN bodies.

He is expected to visit Cape Coast, where he would launch the International Year of the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition, at a durbar.

Ministers of Culture of Benin, Cote D'Ivoire, Togo and Nigeria would be at the event.

Mr Matsuura's visit would coincide with the 2nd ECOWAS Ministers and Experts of Education Meeting, which opened in Accra on Tuesday and will end on January 20.

The meeting is considering issues of Education relating to NEPAD, HIV/AIDS, Science and Technology, Distance Learning among others.