China can play a very important role in bringing people together through cultural and civilizational exchanges, especially when it comes to the Global South, said Khaled El-Enany, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), during his visit to China from May 11 to 14.
On May 13, China and the UNESCO signed a new Memorandum of Understanding for 2026–2029, which reaffirms a strategic partnership and includes cooperation linked to the four global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping.
President Xi met with El-Enany in Beijing on May 12.
The UNESCO chief said they talked about the Global Civilization Initiative put forward by the Chinese president.
"I commended the Chinese initiative and His Excellency's initiative of dialog between civilizations, and as I said, this is the spirit of UNESCO, to know each other, to listen to each other. I'm an Egyptologist, so I spent my life studying and teaching civilizations. And we explored yesterday (May 12), by the way, the many similarities that exist between Chinese civilization and Egyptian civilization. Both countries are holders of great civilization contributed to humanity," said El-Enany.
"So we are very keen to foster this inter-cultural dialog and the exchange of civilization, and this is one of the most important functions of UNESCO, is to bring people together through scientific collaboration, through culture that brings people together, through exhibitions, through education reforms that bring people together, through media. And I think China can play a very important role, especially when it comes to the Global South, and we rely a lot on this partnership," he said.
UNESCO chief lauds civilization exchanges
