French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay has been elected as 11th director general of UNESCO at the 39th General Conference
- Azoulay is the second women to occupy this position and she is appointed for 4 years
- She was nominated last month by the U.N. cultural agency’s executive board
- Azoulay will aim at restoring the international standing of the Paris-based organization that has been mired in financial woes since the United States withdrew its sizeable funding in 2011.
- She will set priorities for the organization’s World Heritage program that protects cultural sites and traditions.'
About Audrey Azoulay
- She was born in 1972.
- She completed her graduation from the Ecole National d’Administration and the Paris Institut d’études politiques.
- She holds a masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Lancaster (U.K.).
- She has held several high-level positions in France, including minister of culture and communication from February 2016 to May 2017.
- She served as a rapporteur to France’s public auditing authority, the Cour des comptes, and as a European Commission legislative expert on issues of culture and the media.
- She served France’s National Cinema Center (CNC), first as deputy audiovisual director, then as director of financial and legal affairs, and finally as deputy director-general.
- She was the first deputy audiovisual director of France’s National Cinema Center (CNC)
About UNESCO
- It was formed on 16 November 1945
- UNESCO is the United Nations organization responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication.
- The organization’s theme is “Building peace in the minds of men and women”
