A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son, Chairman of the Vietnam National UNESCO Committee is participating in the 36 th session of the UNESCO General Assembly that takes place in Paris from October 25 to November 10.

Representatives from 193 UNESCO member countries are attending the session, which is the first since Irina Bokova was elected as the Director-General of the UNESCO General Assembly for a new four-year term.

The session focuses on discussing and deciding on the organisation’s important and comprehensive reforms.

Speaking on this event, Vietnamese Ambassador to UNESCO Duong Van Quang highlighted the significance of the session, saying that it will create a breakthrough for UNESCO in the context of the organisation’s ongoing comprehensive renovations.

During the session, a number of forums were held on October 26 and 27 to provide more opportunities for countries’ leaders to raise their voices.

Participants at the session stressed the role played by young generations through a youth forum held from October 17-20.

According to Quang , Vietnam has paid a special attention to the biennial plenary session on the 1972 World Heritage Convention, which will elect members of the Inter-governmental Committee on Heritages.

With a number of UNESCO-recognised heritages, Vietnam will make efforts to be elected to the committee, he said.

On the sidelines of the 36 th session of the UNESCO General Assembly, Deputy Foreign Minister Son met with Latifa Akharbach, Secretary of State to the Foreign Minister of Morocco cum Chairwoman of the Morocco-Vietnam Joint Cooperation Committee.

At the meeting, Latifa Akharbach spoke highly of Vietnam ’s role and position, saying that the country has an important voice in the region as well as the international arena.

Vietnam is always an active UNESCO member that respects and promotes the organisation’s common values for the development and life of people, she said.

She expressed wish that the two countries will increase mutual support not only at international multilateral forums but also in the framework of the UNESCO General Assembly.

For his part, Son highly valued the development of the Vietnam-Morocco cooperation, expressing determination to boost the relations in the coming time.

He stressed that Vietnam wants to early sign agreements on maritime transport, investment protection, and oil and gas cooperation with Morocco in an effort to raise two-way trade to 100 million USD in the 2012-2015.

The two sides are speeding up the establishment of the Vietnam-Morocco Trade Council, Son added.

The Deputy FM stated that as one of ASEAN’s key members, Vietnam will serve as a bridge for Morocco to develop cooperation with other ASEAN member countries./.