I believe this summit has been underpinned by the power of ideas
to mobilize action, to build a more just and safer world,
because it has never been so important.
And we just heard a very inspiring presentation
by the secretary-general and by the president
of the World Bank, which has painted a very eloquent picture
of the times we live in.
You will not be surprised,
as Director General of United Nations Organization
for Education, Sciences, Culture and Communication
how delighted I was by the passionate speech
and presentation and commitment
by the president of the World Bank, Jim Kim
plead for education for innovation
and the launch of this so important platform in education.
This is the same commitment that turned the pin
to UNESCO's action,
by launching yesterday the global monitoring report 2016
in Arabic in order, not just to exchange ideas,
but to put a very concrete platform of action
for the future, for excellence, for innovation,
for social inclusion,
and we all know that, on one side
the world is more than connected
and vast opportunities exist.
We see new sources of innovation emerging
catalyzing advances in science and technology,
driven by information and communication
technologies and crafting what is most important,
new sustainable solutions to the pressing needs of humanity.
We see new forms of public policy and partnerships,
new global agreements
founded on human dignity and human rights
guided by a new humanistic vision
of change for the benefit of all,
and I believe the agenda 2013 of the United Nations
for sustainable development
and the Paris Climate Agreement
showed this ambition, this thirst that exists
for multilateralism, for multilateral diplomacy.
These agreements in fact embody what I see
as a new multilateralism.
It's complex, it's multi-layered,
it's reaching beyond agreements and beyond governments
and this is precisely why they can succeed,
and I believe this approach is vital
because the stakes are very high.
Climate change is accelerating
across the world, with conflict tearing societies apart,
humanitarian tragedies of unprecedented scale
with inhumanity on the move like never before often at gunpoint,
We see societies in transformation
facing sometimes the rise of exclusive policies
challenged by violent extremism.
We see development stalling, inequalities deepening.
Klaus Schwab in the World Economic Forum 2017
global risks report said and I quote;
"The world is under-employed under-inclusive
and under threat."
And I wish to focus now on what I see
as a red thread tying these challenges together.
This is exclusion, the exclusion of young people,
uneducated, abandoned to poverty,
displaced by conflict or by climate change,
the exclusion of girls and women
taken from schools forced into marriages.
In response, I believe the new global agenda
is unparalleled in universality and scope to tackle
precisely these challenges.
And at the heart stands our single promise
to leave no one behind.
Inclusion is this force to prevent conflict
and sustain peace, so eloquently presented here
by the secretary-general, Guterres.
Inclusion is a motor to open new paths
to sustainable development.
Taking this forward calls for new political will,
new partnerships, a new openness with civil society,
and the private sector.
In many of these instances,
hard power is not enough.
Winning this race calls for soft power,
through respect for dignity, rights,
through empowerment, through inclusion.
This is, I believe, the essential contribution that UNESCO made.
Created precisely to build the defenses of peace
in the minds of women and men,
and this must start as early as possible
on the benches of schools.
This is why education stands at the heart
of the new global sustainable development agenda
with a call for education to represent
four to six percent of GDP,
and twelve to fifteen percent of public expenditure.
And I want to commend the United Arab Emirates
for their strong focus on education,
but not just any education, quality education
that reaches every girl and boy,
and I put an emphasis on girls.
Education then harnesses new technologies,
that catalyzes research and development,
because we know the power of technology
to widen access to learning
through open educational resources, E learning,
mobile learning, massive open... open online courses.
And through our flagship, annual mobile learning week,
this year focusing on education in emergencies,
we are providing a platform to advance and scale-up
good practices. But we need also
education to protect the planet,
to foster new forms of what we call in goal number four
Global Citizenship.
Education that matches skills to development
and market priorities,
and education that fosters intercultural dialogue.
Unfortunately today still, we see more than 250 million children,
adolescents and youth that remain out of schools,
and refugees that are hit hardest.
Education must be integrated into peace building from the start,
and in all of the circumstances
girls and women carry the heaviest burden.
On current trend
what the global monitoring report of UNESCO shows;
The world will achieve universal secondary completion
by 2084
or 50 years later than our horizon
of the agenda 2030.
So, when it comes to education business as usual
is not an option. We need massive investment
in education, we need renewed political commitment
to educate because, in times of scarce resources,
in times of limits of our planet,
the ultimate renewable energy that we have
is human ingenuity,
and we should unleash this renewable energy
through quality education,
and I think that we should focus on education,
on education to be combined with living together.
And I see this as a much neglected focus in public policy.
Our societies are ever more diverse.
We need new policies to match this reality,
to strengthen social cohesion and inclusion,
while making the most of the wealth of diversity
on the basis of human dignity and human rights.
We need new scape skills
for cultural diversity,
new competences, a new literacy of culture and diversity
because I know some speak about the clash of civilization.
I do not believe in this.
Ideally I believe there is a divide
between those who believe in humanity as a single community,
in those who believe that we can live together,
and those who aim to divide us,
who reject this notion of living together.
And I believe this is the challenge of violent extremism,
tearing the fabric of societies apart.
This is the challenge of rising politics of exclusion,
and we need a new commitment to the culture of tolerance.
This means teaching our shared history,
showing how cultures can always have been enriching
by exchange and dialogue,
because culture is more than just buildings and tradition.
Culture is who we are, what our identities are,
how we see the world.
Culture is about belonging, culture is a strong force
of resilience. This is about innovation,
about creativity,
and in societies that are increasingly diverse
we need a new particular focus on living together
on mutual understanding and dialogue.
We need a new commitment to defending cultural heritage
as a force for peace,
as a force for renewal, for rebuilding.
We saw last December in the international conference
for the protection of cultural heritage in conflict areas,
in Abu Dhabi with his highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
Crown Prince and Francois Hollande
the president of France,
this new strong political commitment.
So ladies and gentlemen,
in ending, I believe that taking this forward
these calls forward demands a new leadership
by all governments,
but it is a public responsibility to build common ground
to bridge inequalities.
It calls for new partnerships at every level,
and I echo here both the secretary-general
and the president of the World Bank.
We have to connect the public and the private sector,
we have to connect also the civil society and the academia,
as embodied in the initiative
of the broadband Commission for sustainable development
launched by UNESCO
and the international telecommunication union,
where we have the private sector, the government's,
the civil society and academia,
to harness new technologies for inclusion,
for innovation for the benefit of all.
The very, I would say, strong commitment expressed
during the annual Dubai summit
on education and skills with the Varkey Foundation,
that we will be holding here in this city next month,
is another strong testimony of the commitment
both of Dubai, of the Emirates and the international community
to building skills to empower young people
for everything they want to be,
to unleash this huge renewable energy of human ingenuity.
And I think, at the end,
this means widening the very notion of public goods
in mobilizing a new form of collective action,
drawing on the experience of dynamism
from laboratories to boardrooms,
to the front rooms, the meetings, the civil society
and every single community that we can reach,
because education, inclusion, health,
we all have a stake in more resilient societies,
able to withstand the pressures of change
and make the most of every opportunity.
I believe this is the demand for new governance,
built on the multilateralism for the 21st century.
I thank you for this commitment
and Shokran Jazeelan, Thank you.