PARIS: Malaysia has gained a seat on the Unesco executive board for the 2015-2019 term after being voted in at the organisation's 38th general assembly here, last night. The result was announced at 6pm local time (1am Msian time) on Wednesday after voting ended at 2pm (9pm Msian time) here. Malaysia was one of seven Asia-Pacific nations vying for one of the six seats on the executive board allocated for the region. The other countries were Afghanistan, Pakistan, Samoa, South Korea, Iran, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
A total of 186 countries were eligible to vote. Malaysia emerged first in the voting, receiving 165 votes. Following the win, Malaysia will be represented by Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, in the Unesco executive board for the period. On the whole, there are 58 Unesco executive board seats divided according to zones. Commenting on the success, Mahdzir said it was proof that the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was well-respected at international level.
"As a Unesco executive board member, Malaysia will continue to play an important role in carrying out Unesco's agendas and programmes at international level, especially in the Asia-Pacific region," he said. He said the win was also due to the intense lobbying by the Malaysian side, which included officers from the Foreign Ministry, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, Tourism and Culture Ministry, Communications and Multimedia Ministry as well as the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. Malaysia, he said, will continue to share its experience and numerous development initiatives, of which the latter are key focuses of Unesco. This will be done via the executive board, which serves as one of the bodies which dictates the organisation's direction. Under the Unesco organisational structure, three bodies are responsible for charting Unesco's path which are the executive board, the secretariat as well as the general assembly.
Malaysia has served on Unesco's executive board for five times since joining the world body in 1958. Malaysia also plays a large role within the organisation via the former's Malaysia Fit-in-Trust (MFIT) in its mutual technical cooperation programme, which has received recognition from Unesco for its role in aiding smaller nations in areas of education and research.