On November 5-20, 2013 the 37^th session of the General Conference took place at UNESCO HQ in Paris. The Georgian delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs participated in the event. On November 8, 2013 Ms. Maia Panjikidze addressed the participants of the 37^thsession of the General Conference during the General Policy Debates.

In her speech Ms. Panjikidze introduced Georgia's positions and visions with regard to the organization's priorities and towards the main tasks envisaged by the strategic document of UNESCO. During her visit at UNESCO HQ, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia held a meeting with the UNESCO Director General Ms. Irina Bokova.

The General Conference adopted draft Medium Term Strategy for 2014-2021and draft Programe and Budget 2014-2017 of the Organization. In the framework of the General Conference elections to the main and subsidiary bodies of UNESCO were held. Georgia for the second term became the member of the intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC).

The General Conference has adopted the list of anniversaries which will be held worldwide in association with UNESCO in 2014-2015. The Georgian nomination "The 100^th anniversary of the death of Akaki Tsereteli has been included in this prestigious list.

Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Ms.Maia Panjikidze

On June 5, 2013 the Ministry of Culture and Monument protection of Georgia hosted the award ceremony of the winners for the school contest ‘Learn More about Intangible Cultural Heritage of your Region".

The two round pilot contest was organized by the National Agency for Cultural Preservation of Georgia and aimed at making familiar the young generation with the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003. The winners, 90 students and their teachers were awarded with prizes and granted the title of the advocators for the intangible cultural heritage.

The event was organized with the support of the Ministries of Culture and Monument Protection and Education and Science of Georgia, the newspaper "New Education" and under the aegis of the Georgian National Commission for UNESCO. The Minister and the first Deputy Minister of Culture and Monument Protection, the Director General of  National Agency for Cultural Preservation and the Secretary General of the Georgian National Commission for UNESCO participated in the event.

The workshop for Cultural Heritage National Focal Points from Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe within the framework of the second cycle of the Periodic reporting exercise on the implementation of the World Heritage Convention was hosted by the Georgian Authorities, namely the National Agency for Cultural Preservation of Georgia, the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia and Georgian National Commission for UNESCO and co-organized by the World Heritage Center, in Tbilisi from 14 to 16 November, 2012.  The focal points from Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine as well as the Head of the Division for Central Europe and North America from UNESCO's World Heritage Center, other representatives of the WHC, the Director of the International Unit for Conservation of Nature for the South-Eastern Europe (IUCN) and experts of ICCROM and ICOMOS participated in the event.

On November 14, 2012 the President of Georgia signed a decree appointing Ms. Maia Panjikidze, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, as a president of the Georgian National Commission for UNESCO.

On November  9, 2012 the Approval Committee of the Fund for Elimination of Doping in Sport of UNESCO agreed to provide funding of  USD 18 240 to the project "Nutritional supplements related doping and health risks and benefits of healthy diet". In frame of the project the informational seminars on nutritional supplements will be conducted for sportsmen, trainers and medical personnel.

The project will be implemented by the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency.