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PARIS: UNESCO's executive board has chosen former French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay to be the UN cultural agency's next leader over a Qatari candidate in an unusually heated race overshadowed by Mideast tensions.
The US announcement this week that it's quitting UNESCO rocked the multi-day election and heightened concerns about the agency's funding and future direction.
Azoulay succeeds outgoing Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose eight-year term was marred by financial woes and criticism over Palestine's inclusion as a member.
The 45-year-old took the stage to chants of "Audrey! Audrey!" following her victory and said the response to UNESCO's problems was to reform the agency, not to walk away an understated rebuke of the US and Israel.
"In this moment of crisis, I believe we must invest in UNESCO more than ever, look to support and reinforce it, and to reform it. And not leave it," she said.
In a short address, she also thanked "the Executive Board member states that gave me their trust" in her surprise 30-28 vote win yesterday over Qatari candidate Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari.
Ms. Azoulay, who was born into a Jewish Moroccan family, served for just over a year as culture minister under President François Hollande. Although she declared her candidacy before the election of the current president, Emmanuel Macron, the new government supported her bid.
More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/world/europe/unesco-france.html
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