Prof. Jacek Purchla - a new President of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO

Professor Jacek Purchla has been appointed the President of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Grzegorz Schetyna. Professor Purchla, who has long been involved in the activities undertaken by UNESCO (since February 2012 he was the Vice-President of the Polish National Commission), is to take over from Professor Andrzej Rottermund. The nomination was handed in on July 15, 2015 during the official ceremony held in Warsaw.

A word from Professor Jacek Purchla:

Poland’s active role in the UNESCO-based actions should not only focus on some permanent enhancement of our activities in the fields of science and education. Also, we should make good use of the fact that Poland is a member of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (our term expires in 2017). This great honour should also be seen as a serious responsibility for impeccable application of the Paris Convention of 1972 concerning the protection and preservation of the world cultural na natural heritage. We should also do our best to have more Polish sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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The Polish National Commission for UNESCO is an advisory body to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland. Its role is to create a bridge between UNESCO, Polish governmental bodies as well as non-governmental institutions and organisations. It also offers support to private initiatives which contribute to the implementation of the UNESCO programme. The Polish National Commission for UNESCO comprises the heads of governmental institutions which cooperate with UNESCO and whose areas of activity overlap with those addressed by UNESCO, as well as a number of individuals who represent Polish artists and scientists. They work in several auxiliary bodies, i.e. the education committee, hard sciences committee, culture committee, information and social sciences committee.

To learn more about the Polish National Commission for UNESCO, please visit http://www.unesco.pl/polski-komitet-ds-unesco