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Lucia A Keegan  11/15/2006 09:56:49 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
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UNCLAS    SENSITIVE     PARIS 07341

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: UNESCO
    INFO:   POL ECON AMBU AMB AMBO DCM SCI

DISSEMINATION: UNESCOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:LVOLIVER
DRAFTED: DCM: AKOSS
CLEARED: PAO:CBERGIN

VZCZCFRI115
RR RUEHC RUCNSCO
DE RUEHFR #7341/01 3131655
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091655Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3038
INFO RUCNSCO/UNESCO COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007341 
 
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SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: UNESCO KPAO
SUBJECT:  USUNESCO - A/S POWELL MEETS DIRECTOR-GENERAL 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  During a meeting characterized as "highly 
positive" by the UNESCO Secretariat, Assistant Secretary of State 
for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Dina Habib Powell met with 
UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura and raised the First 
Lady's Literacy conference, Powell's upcoming trip to Asia to 
promote higher education, the First Lady's Global Cultural 
Initiative and UNESCO reform and accountability.  Deputy Assistant 
Secretary of State for Academic Programs Thomas A. Farrell also 
 
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stated that the U.S. was opposed to an international instrument on 
education as a public good.  Matsuura remains keen to partner with 
the U.S. and welcomed the Assistant Secretary's announcement of the 
Fusion Arts program, a new ECA exchange for university students, 
suggesting that First Lady Laura Bush consider coming to UNESCO to 
launch it.  He did not, however, commit to stopping an instrument on 
education. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
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GLOBAL LITERACY CONFERENCES: 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The Assistant Secretary opened up the meeting by mentioning 
the First Lady's appreciation for Matsuura's work and then discussed 
upcoming plans for the first follow on conference to the First 
Lady's September 2006 Global Literacy Conference, which will take 
place in March 2007.  Ambassador Oliver noted that Asia Pacific 
countries at UNESCO were vigorously competing against one another on 
where to hold the second follow on conference in their region. 
Matsuura, who also provided an opening address at the Fulbright new 
Century Scholars Closing Plenary Session held at UNESCO on October 
24 (septel b) stated that he completely agreed with Mrs. Bush on the 
importance of literacy and regretted that the UN had not mentioned 
it explicitly in its Millennium Development Goals. 
 
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Reciprocal ACADEMIC EXCHANGE IN ASIA: 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Assistant Secretary Powell stated that she would soon 
co-lead a delegation to Japan, South Korea and China with U.S. 
Secretary for Education, Margaret Spellings and 12 U.S. University 
 
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presidents in order to deliver a message to governments, business, 
the academic community and students in the three countries that the 
U.S. welcomes more foreign students from their countries coming to 
the U.S. to study at our colleges and universities. She emphasized 
that the U.S. wants to reach beyond elites and visit not only 
well-known universities but also smaller ones.  She added that her 
office also encourages U.S. students to study abroad and learn 
foreign languages. She asked the Director-General for ideas on how 
to pursue these goals in Asia.  He responded that Japan needs to do 
more reciprocal exchanges rather than just one-way exchanges.  He 
urged Assistant Secretary Powell to ask the new Japanese Prime 
Minister to increase the flow of reciprocal exchange, perhaps 
connecting it with the Abe or Obuchi fellowship programs.  He added 
that South Korea was now a prosperous enough country to also 
increase its reciprocal exchange flow and stated that like Japan, it 
might be taking in many students but sending too few abroad. 
 
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GLOBAL CULTURAL INITIATIVE: 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The A/S mentioned the First Lady's Global Cultural 
Initiative, noting Secretary Rice's personal commitment to culture 
as a trained concert pianist.  She stated that the administration 
had doubled its cultural programming budget in recent years and has 
developed close personal relations with the Kennedy Center for the 
Performing Arts in Washington as well as the National Endowment for 
the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH). 
Ambassador Oliver noted past Mission cooperation with these 
entities, including a blues concert and a poetry reading with the 
Chairman of the NEA, Dana Gioia in 2004 and 2005.  The Assistant 
Secretary raised the development of the "Very Special Arts Program" 
 
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affiliated with the Kennedy Center, whose artists with disabilities 
perform abroad and suggested UNESCO engage with this program.  She 
also mentioned the Fusion Arts Exchange Program, a new ECA program 
that she announced for the first time at UNESCO headquarters on the 
same day, stating that the U.S. would like to have a performance at 
UNESCO. (The project will bring together students from different 
countries with strong musical traditions, to study popular music and 
perform together with American students at a leading U.S. university 
music program.) The Director-General responded that he would like to 
do a cultural event with Mrs. Bush as part of a multifaceted visit, 
and the Assistant Secretary asked if the First Lady could launch the 
first Fusion Arts Exchange at UNESCO Headquarters.  The 
Director-General stated that he would be pleased if UNESCO were 
associated with these new programs and welcomed any initiatives with 
the First Lady. 
 
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ETHICS AND REFORM: 
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¶5. (SBU) The Assistant Secretary turned to the topic of ethics, 
praising the Director-General for his leadership in this field.  She 
emphasized the importance of international organizations building 
credibility with the U.S. Congress - indeed; she added Matsuura had 
built an excellent reputation in this area on Capitol Hill.  The 
Director General stated that he would announce a UNESCO Code of 
Conduct in December.  He stated that in cases where employee conduct 
was a problem, he had been able to successfully terminate the 
employee in every situation except for one, who, in staying on, had 
created enormous difficulties for her boss. 
 
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INSTRUMENT ON EDUCATION: 
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¶8.  (U) Deputy Assistant Secretary registered U.S. concern over 
possible instruments in the area of education as a public good. 
Farrell noted the existing guidelines on quality assurance of cross 
border education.  The Director-General stated that he, personally, 
was against an instrument on education as a public good and noted 
that UNESCO had done a good job adopting the guidelines on cross 
border education with the Organization on Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD) but stated that it was now was up to member 
states on how to handle and implement these guidelines, and to 
determine if they were sufficient.  (COMMENT:  This reaction 
strongly echoes his previous comments on the cultural diversity 
convention, which was to state that while he personally did not feel 
strongly about the issue, member states were firm.  END COMMENT.) 
 
¶9.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The meeting between the Director-General and 
Assistant Secretary Powell was well received by the secretariat and 
opened up new possibilities for cultural cooperation.  The 
Director-General's reaction to the point on ethics suggests that he 
is aware of their importance for his legacy at UNESCO.  It also 
demonstrates his concern that there might be difficulties in more 
than one area of UNESCO on this point.  Finally, Mission notes that 
the Director-General only stated his personal views on an instrument 
to make education a public good, not his professional view on the 
topic.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶10. (U) This cable was approved by Assistant Secretary Powell's 
office. 
 
OLIVER