UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Mr. Qian Tang visits Moscow
On 26 February, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Mr. Qian Tang and a delegation from the UNESCO Headquarters arrived in Moscow on an official visit. The UNESCO delegation included Chief of Unit for Human Resources Ms. Katja Konkola and Chief of Unit for Financial Management and Administrative Support Ms. Kirimoke Drollett from the Education Sector.
On the first day of their mission, Mr. Tang and his colleagues held a meeting with staff of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) to discuss the current situation and strategy for further development of the Institute in the context of appointment of its Director Mr. Tao Zhan. Mr. Tang congratulated IITE on this important occasion and confirmed the readiness of UNESCO to support the Institute in its challenging task of revitalization.
One of the most important events of the agenda was the meeting with the Minister and Deputy Ministers of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. During the meeting both sides confirmed their intentions to continue supporting the UNESCO IITE and to increase their contributions to the development of the Institute. "One of the most important part of our cooperation is the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education. We are willing to provide our support for its strategic development", – said the Minister. The representatives of UNESCO also expressed their readiness to build on the cooperation with the Russian Federation and stressed that IITE is currently the only structure representing UNESCO in Russia.
During his three-day visit to Russia, Mr. Tang held a number of meetings with important partners of IITE, including the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, UNESCO Chair on Global Processes of Lomonosov Moscow State University and partners from the private sector. Mr. Tang had a meeting with the Rector of the Russian University of People Friendship (RUDN) Mr. V. Filippov and his deputies and visited the RUDN mission control center. He also delivered a lecture on the role of higher education in the implementation of the Education 2030 before the Academic Council of the university. The Russian University of People Friendship is a long-term partner of UNESCO. In 2014, Mr. Tang was awarded the title of its Honorary Doctor for his outstanding contribution to science, culture, education and international academic cooperation.