Dayan Jayatilleka presents credentials

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Dr Dayan Jayatilleka, presented his credentials to the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova at the Headquarters of the organization in Paris on Wednesday.

The Director General welcoming Ambassador Jayatilleka to UNESCO, noted the long history of cooperation and contribution made by Sri Lanka on the Executive Board in particular and UNESCO in general. She inquired about the role of education in the post conflict context.

Ambassador Jayatilleka stated that the values of UNESCO which nurture dialogue, appreciate diversity and recognize pluralism were critical for member States.

He said the role UNESCO continued to play was important as it fostered closer cooperation of differing collective entities and helped in raising consciousness.

He said that the late Prof Huntington had even mentioned Sri Lanka as an example of fault line conflicts and hoped that an organization such as UNESCO which attempted to counter that notion of the so-called clash of civilizations, instead bolstered understanding and mutual respect, would be the ideal platform for further enhancing dialogue.

He noted that whilst looking forward to the visit of the Director General to Sri Lanka in the course of 2011, the focus on education for peace and sustainable development by Sri Lanka was essential and the possible holding of a symposium on best practices for the transition in the building of peace would help mainstream the UNESCO message and perspective, according to a media release.