{"id":64404,"date":"2026-05-13T00:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/64404\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:05:17","slug":"unesco-director-generals-visit-to-switzerland-reaffirming-unescos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/64404\/","title":{"rendered":"UNESCO Director-General&#8217;s visit to Switzerland: Reaffirming UNESCO\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-align-justify\" lang=\"EN-GB\">In Geneva, the Director-General participated in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairpersonship Conference 2026 at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), where he underlined the importance of anticipatory governance for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, grounded in ethics, human rights and international cooperation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\" lang=\"EN-GB\">He met with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, who heads the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, reaffirming the strong partnership between Switzerland and UNESCO and a shared commitment to multilateralism, inclusive diplomacy and international cooperation. He also met with the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), Tatiana Valovaya, to reaffirm longstanding cooperation between UNESCO and UN Geneva and discuss strengthened coherence across the UN system. The Director-General also visited the International Bureau of Education (IBE), where he met with staff and Board members and exchanged on the institution\u2019s ongoing work and future priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\" lang=\"EN-GB\">At the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a new Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Secretary-General, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, reinforcing cooperation on artificial intelligence governance, digital transformation and connectivity for education. The agreement reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that technological change supports inclusive and sustainable development. The Director-General also addressed the ITU Council to talk about connectivity, education, emerging technologies and strengthening coordination across the United Nations system on digital governance issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\" lang=\"EN-GB\">His visit to Geneva included exchanges with foundations, philanthropic institutions and private sector actors, reinforcing the growing importance of cross-sectoral partnerships to advance education, sciences, culture and information. A roundtable with Geneva-based philanthropic organizations highlighted evolving trends within Swiss philanthropy, particularly the increasing emphasis on trust-based collaboration, agility, access to expertise and measurable impact in engagement with UNESCO and the wider UN system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\" lang=\"EN-GB\">In a separate lunch roundtable with representatives of major Swiss watchmaking houses and the Grand Prix d\u2019Horlogerie de Gen\u00e8ve, the UNESCO inscription of <a href=\"https:\/\/ich.unesco.org\/en\/RL\/craftsmanship-of-mechanical-watchmaking-and-art-mechanics-01560?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">watchmaking craftsmanship<\/a> on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list provided the backdrop for exchanges on how cultural heritage can be linked with innovation and skills development. Particular attention was given to the transmission of craftsmanship to younger generations, as well as its links to education, sustainability and cultural continuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Geneva, the Director-General participated in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairpersonship Conference 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[35163,1918,5632,1062,17695,35161,21291,5921,2534,35162,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-64404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-build-a-stronger-multilateralism-un","9":"tag-culture","10":"tag-director-general","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-g20","13":"tag-information-and-communication","14":"tag-natural-sciences","15":"tag-partnership","16":"tag-partnerships","17":"tag-priority-africa","18":"tag-switzerland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116564349589919488","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}