USUNESCO - A/S POWELL MEETS DIRECTOR-GENERAL

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:
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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:
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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:
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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