Director-General’s official visit to Ecuador

The Director-General is also expected to participate in a ministerial meeting chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility. This high-level meeting is an opportunity to reinforce cooperation with Ecuador. It will bring together ministers working in UNESCO’s fields of expertise including the Minister of Education, Mr Fander Falconí, the Minister of Culture and Heritage, Mr Raúl Pérez Torres, the Minister of Environment, Mr Tarsicio Granizo Tamayo, the Minister of Tourism, Enrique Ponce de León, and the Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT), Mr Augusto Barrera Guarderas. The Director of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Ecuador, Mr Joaquín MOSCOSO, will also participate in the ministerial meeting.

While in Ecuador, the Director-General will attend the Plenary of the National Assembly of the Republic of Ecuador in Guayaquil and meet with parliamentarians. She is also expected to meet with the United Nations Country Team and Resident Coordinator.

The Director-General will visit the Historic Centre of Quito, including the Convento of San Francisco, as well as the Convento of San Agustín. The City of Quito was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1978, which despite the 1917 earthquake, has the best-preserved, least altered historic centre in Latin America. In this context, the Director-General will meet with the Mayor of Quito. She will also visit the Museum Capilla del Hombre, one of the most important works of art in South America. The Museum exhibits sculptures and murals of Oswaldo Guayasamín, an important Ecuadorian painter and sculptor whose art, especially his murals, reflect the history of human suffering and the violence in Latin America and the world.