Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the Director-General of UNESCO Khaled El-Enany, at Maximos Mansion.
During the meeting, the Organization’s priorities were discussed, with an emphasis on the UNESCO80 reform initiative, as well as Greece’s strong presence within the Organization.
The Prime Minister made special mention of the designation of February 9 as World Greek Language Day, as well as the two recent Greek inscriptions on the World Heritage List: the Minoan Palatial Centres (2025) and the wider area of Mount Olympus (2026), as a mixed cultural and natural site.
It should be noted that our country now has 21 sites listed in the List and maintains a strong institutional presence in the Organization through its participation in key bodies.
The reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, a long-standing priority for Greece, was also discussed, as the Prime Minister noted.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs George Gerapetritis, the Director of the Prime Minister’s Diplomatic Office, Ambassador Ekaterini Nassika, the Permanent Delegate of Greece to UNESCO, Georgios Koumoutsakos; and the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office for International Strategic Planning and Communication, Aristotelia Peloni.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the Director-General of UNESCO made the following statements:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: It’s a real pleasure to welcome you again officially, dear Director-General, and let me begin by saying how happy we are with your election. You know that we were very supportive of your candidacy from the very beginning, and I do believe that it is important that you’re the first Arab Director-General of UNESCO and someone who I think has a great civilizational affinity to our country, given the fact that you are a world-renowned Egyptologist.
As you know, we are fully committed to the organization. Let me also commend the excellent work that our Ambassador has done over the past years. We’re very proud about the fact that the Greek language has been officially recognized by UNESCO and that we’re making continuous progress in terms of registering cultural landmarks, but also Mount Olympus in the official catalog of UNESCO.
So I’m happy to hear your thoughts on how we can progress further and further strengthen our relationship.
Khaled El-Enany: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for the very warm hospitality extended to me since I arrived yesterday morning. Mr. Minister, ladies and gentlemen, Ambassador, it’s really a great honor to be in Greece, a country that is very close to my heart.
UNESCO and Greece are – it’s a very long-standing strategic partnership, not only because you are a founding member, because you are very present in UNESCO through the exceptional performance of the permanent delegation, and through many celebrations, including prizes, the World Greek Language Day that we celebrate. I was very privileged to be the first DG to celebrate it officially last February and working now for the next year, for the next celebration, to the next Mercouri Prize next November 2027 as well.
But also UNESCO is very much present here in Greece through the 21 World Heritage Sites, the 11 Intangible Cultural Heritage elements, the 4 Biosphere Reserve, the 10 Geo Parks, the big number of Creative Cities, Associated Schools, Learning Cities, and the exceptional Goodwill Ambassador Costanza Sbokou, who organized for us this amazing event yesterday.
It has been only 24 hours that I’m here, but it’s like it has been one week that I’m here, because I had a long series of meetings, including of course His Excellency Mr. President, who was kind enough to receive me yesterday for a very long meeting and now with Your Excellency, yesterday evening with the different members of the government.
So I’m really very thankful for this very longstanding partnership because we share values, UNESCO and Greece, and we continue, and I hope that this visit can take this relationship further.
