President appeals for cultural diversity

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday issued an impassioned plea for cultural diversity at the opening session of the 33rd General Conference of UNESCO.

"We cannot permit a single vision, a single group of ideas, a single project take over the whole world," President Kumaratunga said. The sessions, opened at its Paris headquarters Monday, are being attended by 2,000 delegates from 191 member states.

The two-yearly session of UNESCO's supreme decision-making body coincides this year with the 60th anniversary of the creation of the organisation, which will be marked in a special ceremony on Wednesday.

The three-week assembly is to approve the budget for 2006-2007 and name a Director-General for the next four years. The incumbent Koichiro Matsuura of Japan is expected to be granted a second term.

Delegates will also discuss draft conventions on cultural diversity and doping in sport, and a declaration on bioethics and human rights. Several heads of state and government are due to address the assembly. President Kumaratunga was the first to address the assembly.