UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay will strengthen the cooperation with Mexico

During her first visit to Mexico next February 26th and 27th, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Audrey Azoulay, will be representing the international community at the discussions about the future of the world’s indigenous languages, and will strengthen the cooperation projects between the Organization and Mexico.

Elected by the 39th Session of the General Conference, Audrey Azoulay started her four-year term on November 15th, 2017. On February 27th, before the inauguration of the High Level Event “Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages”, the expert on Culture and Communication will have a meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at Palacio Nacional.

Among other activities, it is expected for the Director-General to meet the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcerlo Ebrard; Secretary of Culture Alejandra Frausto; Secretary of Education Esteban Moctezuma; and the United Nations Resident Coordinator Antonio Molpeceres. Among the actions that will allow the cooperation with Mexico, Audrey Azoulay will sign a Framework Collaboration Agreement with the Secretary of Culture, and an agreement for the establishment of the Second Category Centre: Mesoamerican Institute of Science at Chiapas.

On the 26th, Ms. Azoulay will deliver the Binational Registration Certificate (Mexico/Spain) for the fabrication process of the ceramic for Talavera as intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The register values the theoretical and practical knowledges that this technique requires, as well as its transmission among generations, and the way in which each atelier and region have their own identities regarding the technique.

Asimismo, la Directora General de la UNESCO realizará un recorrido por el Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México (declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad en 1987) en compañía de la Jefa de Gobierno, Claudia Sheinbaum. Durante su misión en México también visitará la exposición temporal “Voces de la tierra. Lenguas indígenas” en el Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) y el Pabellón de las Lenguas Indígenas que la Secretaría de Cultura instalará en el Complejo Cultural Los Pinos.

Likewise, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum will take a tour through Mexico City Historical Centre (declared as World Heritage on 1987). During her mission in Mexico, she will also visit the temporal exhibition “Voces de la tierra. Lenguas indígenas” (Voices from earth. Indigenous Languages) at the National Museum of Art (MUNAL), as well as de the Indigenous Languages Pavilion, that the Ministry of Culture will set up at the Cultural Complex Los Pinos.

Audrey Azulay is a graduate of France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration and of the Paris Institut d’Etudes Politiques, she also holds a diploma in Business Administration from the Univesity of Lancaster(UK). She worked as France Minister of Culture from February 2016 to May 2017. She started her career at the audiovisual public sector, she also served as rapporteur at the Court of Auditors of France and served as legal advisor of the European Commission regarding subjects of culture and communication. Furthermore, she successively held different positions at the National Center of Cinematography of France (CNC): Deputy Director of Multimedia Affairs, Chief Financial Officer, Legal Advisor and Deputy Director General.