JUBA, 3 November 2011 – The nearly four month old Republic of South Sudan, Africa’s youngest country, has now been officially admitted into the family of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the 194th member country.
This was announced today by the minister for Youth, Culture and Sports Hon. Cirino Hiteng Ofuho at the Juba International Airport upon his arrival from France. Hon. Hiteng said he had been invited to attend the Annual General Assembly organized by UNESCO in France.
Dr Hiteng addressing the press on his arrival. The minister said that South Sudan will benefit a lot from the UNESCO membership. He said UNESCO is an organization that has a proven record of documentation and archives management and will help to document the long and rich history of South Sudan. He further stressed that much as the organization does not have a very big budget, by becoming its member country, the organization will help South Sudan to build its cultural centers that he said can be used to attract tourists seeking to learn more about the rich culture of the South Sudanese.
He said he was able conduct several meetings with key officials of the organization, among them being the Director General of UNESCO Ms Herina Bukofa as well as ministers from member countries in the world. He said the world accepts South Sudan with open hearts. “There is a lot of goodwill out there for South Sudan and we need to harness it when the honeymoon is still on”, said Hon. Hiteng.
He said South Sudan will be making follow-up meetings with the organization to map out a framework of partnership. |
