The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization had given it’s nod to readmit the United States as a member. The official ceremony of raising the American flag and to welcome them was held at the headquarters of the organization in Paris, which was attended by the Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay Azoula and accompanied by the first lady of the USA, Jill Biden, as well as the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron.
UNESCO’s governing board had voted 132-10 to accept the US’s proposal to rejoin the Paris-based agency. The North American country’s membership became official once Secretary of State Antony Blinken, formally accepted the invitation, according to White House officials. “It’s a great day for UNESCO and for multilateralism. Building upon the momentum achieved in recent years, our Organization is once again moving towards universalism with this return of the United States”, said the Director General. Russian, Palestinian and North Korean representatives had llayed a role to hold up consideration of the US proposal on Thursday with hours of procedural delays. That session was adjourned due to fatigue on the part of UNESCO interpreters.The administration of US President Joe Biden had announced in early June that the US would apply to rejoin the organisation mainly because it was concerned that China was filling the gap left in its absence. The 193-member UNESCO plays a major role in setting international standards for artificial intelligence and technology education around the world.
The United States had previously pulled out of UNESCO under Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003 during George W Bush’s presidency.
