US to rejoin UNESCO as 'full, active and enthusiastic participant':Laura Bush

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 30, 2003

US to rejoin UNESCO as 'full, active and enthusiastic participant':Laura Bush

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Laura Bush, the United States' first lady, announced on Monday that her country will come back as a "full, active and enthusiastic participant" after 19 years of absence from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

"Starting from Oct. 1, the American government will once again become a full, active and enthusiastic participant of the important mission of the UNESCO to promote peace and liberty," said Laura at the opening of the UNESCO annual general conference.

"The Americans will work with our UNESCO colleagues to promote education, science and culture," she said.

The United States under former president Ronald Reagan withdrew from the UNESCO, the Untied Nations' major cultural body, in 1984 to protest what it criticized as mismanagement and anti-Western bias.

In the 1980s, the UNESCO advocated for a New International Economic Order and the New World Information Order, calling for transferring wealth from the rich to the poor.

US former president Bill Clinton said UNESCO has changed ever since and the US Parliament in May agreed to unlock some 60 million dollars in back dues for membership to be formally resumed on October 1.

The UNECSO general conference will run from Monday to Oct. 17 to discuss draft texts on protecting intangible cultural heritage such as languages, culture in times of war and occupation, and artistic works held in digital media like the Internet.

Held in its Paris headquarters, the conference will be attended by five heads of state -- Jacques Chirac of France, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi of Italy, Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan, Alejandro Toledo of Peru and Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines -- and more than 300 ministers.

Earlier Monday, Laura was received by Chirac, a meeting seen as a move to help mend the strained relations between Paris and Washington over France's opposition to the US-led war on Iraq.

Following the meeting, Laura told reporters that "American-Franco friendship is both intimate and intense" despite disagreements over certain issues.

"Our attachment is very emotional. We can have disagreement and remain friends," she said at French television France 3.

Laura will leave Paris for Moscow on Tuesday morning.

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