Singapore rejoins UNESCO

NEW YORK: Singapore has rejoined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) after a gap of 22-years.
 
The Organisation's Director-General Koochiro Matsuura welcomed the return of Singapore, which deposited its instrument of adhesion in London on Tuesday, as the 193rd UNESCO member.
 
"Universality is UNESCO's main source of strength," he said. "It opens the way for global responses to increasingly complex situations."
 
Matsuura underscored that Organisation's "Member States and all of our partners are as proud as I am to welcome Singapore back, and we share the conviction that this member state will make a rich and diverse contribution to debates in all of UNESCO's areas of competence."
 
Singapore's return means that UNESCO now has one more member state than the UN itself, which has 192. Gan Kim Yong, Minister of Education and Manpower, will lead the South-East Asian nation's delegation at the 34th session of the UNESCO General Conference from October 16 to November 3.