Serbia elected to the UNESCO Executive Board for the third time in a row

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Serbia was once again, for the third consecutive time, elected as a member of the UNESCO Executive Board. As announced on the UNESCO website, Serbia received the most votes in its Eastern European group - 137, reports Kosovo Online.

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Serbia's candidacy was announced a few days ago by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic in a speech at the General Assembly of this organization of the United Nations for Education, Science and Culture.

Ambassador of Serbia to UNESCO Tamara Rastovac Siamasvili, who chaired the Executive Board for the last two years, assessed before the vote that Serbia has a great chance of being reelected to that body and that the candidacy submitted by Belgrade once again was well received by the member countries.

"What stands out from our point of viee in conversations with colleagues and representatives of UNESCO member states is that Serbia is the balancing factor in UNESCO, including the Executive Board. So, we are a country that absolutely insists on dialogue, on seeking compromise, consensus and multilateralism. This is something that is also a feature of our foreign policy, and it is also manifested in our performance here at UNESCO. This is something that I also insisted on as the chair of the Executive Board," Siamasvili told Kosovo Online.

Former Serbian diplomats pointed out before the vote that Serbia's reelection to the UNESCO Executive Board would be a confirmation of the constructive role that Serbia plays in this international organization, which would enable Belgrade to be active in this body on a daily basis.

They said that membership would contribute to being able to react urgently in any situation, including when, eventually, Pristina reactivates its request for membership (in UNESCO), which is currently "dormant."

New members of the UNESCO Executive Board from the same electoral group are Albania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

(Telegraf.rs)