Monaco Ambassador of Ocean, Education & Culture at the UNESCO General Conference.

The intercultural understanding is being redesigned by the advent of new technologies and the artificial intelligence. However, it cannot ignore preserving cultural identities and environmental ecosystems. The 43rd UNESCO General Conference held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from October the 30th to November the 13th, 2025 debated on how to best balance education, culture, and ethics in the modern highly digitised era.

A delegation from the Principality of Monaco, led by H.E. Anne-Marie Boisbouvier, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, reaffirmed Monaco's engagement in some key axes of Sustainable Development. Notably: ocean preservation, with direct participation to the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, the World Marine Heritage, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development; education through the promotion of a more inclusive access to cultural formation without gender or social class disparities, as enhanced by the Global Monitoring Reports on Education (GEM); culture through its support for the Heritage Emergency Fund aimed at preventing, mitigating and recovering the loss of cultural heritage as a driver of social cohesion and peace building.

Photo >> The Monaco's Delegation to the 43rd UNESCO General Conference led by H.E. Anne-Marie Boisbouvier (30th October - 13th November 2025, Samarkand, Uzbekistan © Direction de la Communication Gouvernement Princier

Held every two years, the General Conference brings together UNESCO’s 194 Member States to define its priorities in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

In this framework Monaco's Ambassador renewed the framework cooperation agreement (2026-2029) on behalf of the Monegasque Government, while congratulating Professor Khaled El-Enani on his appointment as UNESCO Director-General.

This international panel, who moved to the Middle East for the first time to underline the importance of the thousand-year-old cultural exchanges that arose around the Silk Road, represented a crucial step in advancing ethics of technology while establishing the role of science as a pillar of sustainability and peace keeping. Moreover, the Conference reframed humanism as a universal ethic to reinforce equity, cultural respect, and pluralism.

Not by chance, the parties adopted the first global regulatory framework on neuro technologies ethics, guaranteeing their engagement to improving the lives of those who need them, without undermining human rights.

The 43rd UNESCO General Conference provided then a privileged stage where to tackle major global issues, enabling interveners to present effective recommendations to the Member States attending the General Conference. ***

✒️ Maurice Abbati

• Strategic Communication Specialist, Editor in Chief, Journalist, Executive.

• Lecturer and Author in English in the field of Environmental Communication to foster Circular and Blue Economy.