Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, paid an official visit to
the headquarters of UNESCO this Wednesday, July 19th, and met with the
Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay.
Discussions were focused on:
1. The protection of the oceans and the environment as a universal cultural asset of
humanity;
2. The promotion of exchanges and partnerships between countries for education,
particularly international university students’ exchanges;
3. The improvement of access to information technologies (in particular the
possibility of connection); an essential cultural and educational vector for
developing States or with geographical particularities (small sizes, insularity, etc.);
The visit was organised on the initiative of H.E. Boris Latour, Ambassador
Extraordinary, and Plenipotentiary, recently appointed as Permanent Delegate of
Antigua and Barbuda to UNESCO in Paris.
The Prime Minister mentioned during this meeting that he has full confidence in
his new Ambassador H.E. Boris Latour, for this important representation of
Antigua and Barbuda to UNESCO, which involves many issues of high importance
for the country.
The Prime Minister and the Director-General also discussed establishing capacity
building in Antigua and Barbuda to protect and track the country's cultural assets,
and to improve education infrastructure and human resources in relation to new
technologies and artificial intelligence.
The Prime Minister stated, It is very important for each country to be autonomous
in matters of information technology, especially about the development of artificial
intelligence, and the institutions of multilateral diplomacy which have a crucial
role to play in this area, in particular, UNESCO.
Present during the meeting were H.E. Colin Murdoch, Ambassador of the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States to the World Trade Organisation and
other international organizations in Geneva, as well as Timothée Bauer, Deputy
Permanent Delegate for Antigua and Barbuda.