UNESCO DG arrives in India to boost cultural ties, to visit Jaipur tomorrow

PTI, Feb 4, 2020, 3:45 PM IST

New Delhi: UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay arrived in India on a three-day visit starting Tuesday, seeking to bolster “strategic partnership” with the country focusing on areas such as heritage, education and artificial intelligence, officials said.

This is her first official visit to India after she took charge as the DG of this world body, they said.

The DG who has arrived in Delhi will begin her trip with a visit to the Raj Ghat to pay her respects to Mahatma Gandhi who has had a profound influence on UNESCO, officials said.

She is expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and also meet Union Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and the Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel during the visit, a UNESCO India official said.

“During her meetings, Azoulay will explore opportunities to develop UNESCO’s strategic partnership with India with a particular focus on culture, education and artificial intelligence, for which Member States have asked UNESCO to develop a standard-setting instrument for the ethics in AI,” the UNESCO India Office said.

In Delhi, the Director-General will visit World Heritage sites – the Humayun’s Tomb and the Red Fort, it said.

On Wednesday, Azoulay will travel to Pink City Jaipur, which last June became 38th World Heritage site in India.

She will attend a special ceremony honouring UNESCO, at the iconic Albert Hall, alongside Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, it said in a statement.

The UNESCO DG will also visit Amer Fort in Rajasthan.

While in Rajasthan, Azoulay will also visit the Girls Secondary School in Amer, reflecting UNESCO’s commitment to girls’ education as in the Director-General’s words “Investing in a girl’s education is one of the most effective ways to ensure a better life for her and a better world for us all.”

In Delhi, she will visit the National Museum to see the exhibition titled ‘Indian Heritage in Digital Space’ which showcases augmented reality displays of five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, officials said.

On the last day of her visit, she will address the opening session of a seminar on ‘The Future of Education Artificial Intelligence for Social and Emotional Learning’ in Delhi, organised by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), they said.