News

At the annual meeting of UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassadors in Paris on 24 June, Goodwill Ambassador of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), former President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus reviewed the benefits of Lithuania’s experience and the projects that the country implements in the area of creating a knowledge-based society.

President V.Adamkus welcomed UNESCO’s activities in this area and invited all the countries to participate in the Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which will be held in Lithuania this September. The IGF Meeting is the year’s key event of the global information society.

UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador highlighted that it was not possible to speak about a knowledge-based society without ensuring that all people have access to basic education and urged the assembled not to reduce funds for education despite the global financial and economic crisis.

V.Adamkus drew the attention of UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassadors to the fact that education and training played an important role in the fight against terrorism, racism, xenophobia and other negative phenomena, and called on UNESCO and all the Goodwill Ambassadors to more actively defend freedom of speech and press.

UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassadors promote the organisation and contribute to the achievement of its goals and the implementation of its programmes. There are 43 UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassadors in total.  Ambassadors are linked to specific areas of competence of the Organization.

25 Goodwill Ambassadors attended the meeting.

V.Adamkus was named UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Construction of Knowledge Societies in 2003.