On 22 June, President of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO, First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova chaired the 5th meeting of the Bureau of the National Commission.

The heads of the National Commission's sectors attended the event in person, whilst the Permanent Delegate of Ukraine to UNESCO Mr. Vadym Omelchenko joined online.

During the event, Emine Dzhaparova introduced two new members of the Bureau - Yevhen Kudriavets, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Head of the Education Sector of the National Commission, and Oleksandr Krasnolutsky, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Head of the Natural Heritage Sector of the National Commission.

Emine Dzhaparova highlighted the results of the National Commission's work in the first half of 2023 and outlined the main achievements of Ukraine in UNESCO. Among them:

• visits to Ukraine by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and the delegation of the Group of Friends of Ukraine at UNESCO;
• adoption of the decision at the 216th session of the UNESCO Executive Board to introduce the status of Young Ambassador of UNESCO Associated Schools (a Ukrainian initiative supported by 21 UNESCO member states);
• approval by the Executive Board of the Ukrainian nomination "Babyn Yar Documentary Heritage" and its inclusion in the International Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme;
• election of a Ukrainian candidate as Chairperson of the Communication and Information Commission during the 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference in November 2023;
• adoption by the Executive Board of a decision on further emergency assistance to Ukraine. According to UNESCO's estimates, the total amount of further assistance to Ukraine could reach USD 120 million and should be mobilised by the end of 2024.

In addition, Emine Dzhaparova stressed the importance for Ukraine of the fact that the focus of the Organisation's attention remains on Crimea and the state of cultural sites on the peninsula. In particular, those included in the Tentative List (Bagçesaray Palace of the Crimean Khans and the Complex of the Sudak Fortress Monuments of the 6th - 16th c.) and the UNESCO World Heritage List (Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora).

The members of Bureau discussed the initiative to convene, jointly with the UNESCO Secretariat, an international conference on the restoration of Ukraine in the areas of UNESCO's competence.

Special attention was paid to the issue of ensuring the participation of the Ukrainian delegation in the 5th extraordinary session of the UNESCO General Conference at the end of this month. The main item on the agenda of this session is the resumption of the USA’s membership in UNESCO.

The Bureau members also discussed the situation in the regional (electoral) groups of UNESCO's working bodies, to which Ukraine submitted its candidatures. In particular, several priorities were identified:

• exclusion of Russia from as many UNESCO's governing bodies as possible;
• promotion of Ukraine's representatives to the governing bodies of the Organization.

The participants of the meeting discussed the avenues of intensifying the activities of the education sector of the National Commission. They outlined further steps to promote the activities of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) in Ukraine and focused on the implementation of Ukrainian-German recreation project, which envisages recreation of children from ASPnet schools of the Ukrainian regions most affected by the war in Germany.

The members of the National Commission's Bureau praised the results of the Commission's work in the first half of the year and identified the priorities of the sectors and the National Commission as a whole for the near future.