On the closing day of the 35th General Conference (October 6-23) of the UNESCO — the United Nations (UN) agency for education, science and culture, the very last Plenary, the eighteenth, met this Friday October 23, 2009 in the mid-afternoon (03:00-07:00pm) to host during its second part, from 04:30pm, the investiture ceremony of the Organisation’s tenth Director-General, Bulgarian career diplomat and politician Mrs. Irina Gueorguieva Bokova, 57, who succeeds Japanese Mr. Kōichirō Matsuura, 72, as the first woman Director-General in the sixty-three-year history of the UNESCO and the first East European named to the Organisation’s highest office.

The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony was opened with an introductory speech by the President of the General Conference, Mr. Davidson L. Hepburn from the Bahamas, after which Director-General elect Bokova took the oath of office and delivered an inspirational and motivational installation speech, notably pointing out that her accession to this high office “gives confidence to all women wherever they may be. It is a signal that they must have access to knowledge and power so that they may bring their contribution to society and take part in running world affairs.” Further in her speech, she went on the “new humanism” she intends to promote during her four-year mandate, declaring that “cultural diversity and inter-cultural dialogue contribute to the emergence of a new humanism that reconciles the global and the local, and teaches us a new how to build the world. (...) For me, humanism means aspiring to peace, democracy, justice and human rights. For me, humanism means aspiring to tolerance, knowledge and cultural diversity. It is rooted in ethics and in social and economic responsibility. It comes into its own by extending assistance to the most vulnerable. It is at the heart of the commitment to struggle to face our greatest common challenges, particularly respect for the environment.”

After a long standing ovation from the audience, the ceremony continued with a speech by the Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr. Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yaï from Benin, followed by a series of congratulatory addresses by each of the Presidents of UNESCO’s six regional electoral groups — including from H.E. Mrs. Milica Pejanović-Đurišić, Ambassador of Montenegro in Paris and Permanent Delegate to the Organisation, by another way Vice-President of the 35th General Conference and Chairperson of the Electoral Group II — and by H.E. Mrs. Catherine Colonna, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of France to the Organisation, on behalf of the UNESCO’s host country.

Following is the video record of Madam Ambassador Pejanović-Đurišić’s bilingual address (English/French) delivered, on behalf of UNESCO’s Electoral Group II, at the investiture ceremony of Madam Director-General elect Bokova, in Paris, France, October 23 06:10pm :

Finally, after Mr. Michael Millward, Secretary of the 35th General Conference, enumerated a long list of world leaders and personalities who wrote in praising Mrs. Bokova’s election [1], outgoing Director-General Matsuura expressed to his successor his congratulations and best wishes of success for her mandate. The ceremony ended with a musical performance by the UNESCO Orchestra, directed by Mr. Jorge Lozano-Corres, which played in honour of the new Director-General a Bulgarian March, among other pieces of music.

Background
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After a long campaigning around the world formally launched at the beginning of April 2008, in connection with the background work of Madam Ambassador Pejanović-Đurišić, as co-ordinator of the support group to the Bulgarian candidacy, Mrs. Irina Bokova was designated candidate Director-General by the UNESCO’s 58-member Executive Board on September 22 last (37 votes in favour in the fifth round of balloting), and elected to the post by 166 votes for, 7 against, 2 abstentions and 3 invalid votes (4 Member-States did not participate to the vote) during the Twelfth Plenary Meeting of the 35th General Conference, held on October 15 afternoon.

Ambassador of Bulgaria to France and the Principality of Monaco until her election, incoming Director-General Bokova has also been the Personal Representative of the Bulgarian President to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and the country’s Permanent Delegate to the UNESCO since 2005 ; she was elected in 2007 to the Organisation’s Executive Board, by another way holding the Vice-Presidency of the UNESCO’s French-speaking group of ambassadors.

Born in Sofia on July 12, 1952, Mrs. Bokova is the daughter of Mr. Gueorgui Philipov Bokov, former Editor-in-Chief from 1958 to 1976 of the official newspaper and organ of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP-Balgarska Komunisticheska Partija). After studying at the English Language High School n° 144 in Sofia, she has been graduated from the prestigious Moscow State Institute of International Relations and got a M.Sc. in International Relations (1976) [2].
In 1977, Mrs. Bokava entered the diplomatic career as Sofia’s Attaché and Third Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, in charge of political and human rights issues and especially concentrated on women’s rights. From 1982, she joined the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria to the United Nations in New York City, N.Y., as Third Secretary in charge of political and juridical affairs. Valued member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP-Balgarska Socialisticeska Partija ; former Communist), she was from 1990 to 1991 a Deputy in the 7th Bulgarian National Assembly.
In 1992, after the fall of Communism, she left the Diplomatic Corps to work in the private sector, returning in 1995 as Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-ordinator of the Relations between Bulgaria and the European Union (EU) until February 1997 [3], making her a pioneer of the accession of her country to the EU in 2007. From the Bulgarian side, she is also the founder of the European Policy Forum, a non-governmental organisation aimed at promoting European values in the country’s public life. In the period 2001-2005, she was a BSP’s Deputy in the 39th National Assembly for the center-left alliance “Coalition for Bulgaria”.

Polyglot, Mrs. Irina Bokova speaks Russian, English, French and Spanish. She is secondly married to Mr. Kalin Mitrev, banquer in London, and mother of two children, Paul and Naia. Her brother, Mr. Filip Bokov, after being one of the main political advisors to Bulgarian President Mr. Georgi Parvanov (2002-present), served as head of cabinet of former Prime Minister Mr. Sergei Stanishev (2005-2009) ; he is currently Ambassador of Bulgaria to Slovenia, accredited on December 5 last year.

Director-General Bokova will begin her mandate on next November 15.