Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau, head of the Foreign Ministry's Culture and UNESCO Department, has been nominated for the director-general position of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the 2017-2021 tenure.
Ambassador Pham Sanh Chau, head of the Foreign Ministry's Culture and UNESCO Department, has been nominated for the director-general position of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the 2017-2021 tenure.
The nomination was proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a recent meeting in Da Nang in the presence of representatives from some UN and other international organizations in Vietnam. This is the first time a Vietnam diplomat has run for an important position at the UN agency. Pham Sanh Chau was the Vietnamese ambassador to Belgium and the EU from 2011 to 2014. He had engaged in many UNESCO education, culture and heritage activities. In 1999, as an ambassador to UNESCO, he tried to canvas UNESCO to recognize and present a ‘city for peace’ title for Hanoi and the world natural heritage for PhongNha-Ke Bang. Mr Chau is fluent in English and French and used to be an interpreter for many high-ranking officials in the 1986-1996 period.
