‘Lebanon is committed to working with UNESCO,’ Aoun assures Azoulay

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed Wednesday that Lebanon is "committed to working with UNESCO to protect cultural heritage as well as Lebanese sites listed as World Heritage," during a meeting with the director-general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, at the Baabda Palace, in the presence of Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh.

President Aoun also thanked Azoulay for "her consistent support for Lebanon since she took office at UNESCO and for the projects that the organization has completed and those still planned." He also praised "UNESCO’s pioneering role in the field of education, especially in the face of challenges confronting the Lebanese educational sector."

On an official visit to Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday, Azoulay will launch the restoration of the Grand Théâtre de Beyrouth and the Mar Mikhail railway station. Before Aoun, she stated that "work is ongoing to secure the necessary funding to turn these buildings into cultural venues." She also expressed the hope that "cooperation with Lebanon will be strong and tangible" and welcomed the appointment of Hind Darwish as head of the Lebanese delegation to UNESCO.

On Wednesday, Aoun also addressed the Lebanese people on the occasion of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. "Lebanon, with its cultural and religious diversity, offers the most beautiful example of coexistence and dialogue between religions and denominations," he said. "On this blessed occasion, we call for the cultivation of solidarity and social cohesion, working together to build a united Lebanese society based on love, justice and human dignity. We also call for the rejection of all forms of division and sectarianism, and to affirm our national unity as one people living on the same land, under the same sky and the same flag."