The Government of Joe Biden announced that the United States will rejoin the UN educational and scientific organization, UNESCO, after a five-year absence that began when Donald Trump was a resident.
The State Department revealed that it delivered a letter requesting reinstatement to the Paris-based body late last week. In the June 8 letter, Assistant Secretary of State for Management Richard Verma proposed “a plan for the United States to rejoin the organization,” the department said in a statement.
“Any such action will require the consent of current UNESCO members, and we understand that UNESCO’s leadership will convey our proposal to members in the coming days,” the statement said.
Details of the proposal were not disclosed. The United States owes the organization a significant amount of money due to late payment of dues. But earlier this year, the administration set aside $150 million (140 million euros) in its current budget plan to pay for UNESCO’s return.
The United States and UNESCO have had a turbulent relationship for the past four decades, having primarily discussed ideological issues during the Cold War and, more recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Former President Ronald Reagan withdrew the United States from UNESCO in 1983, but President George W. Bush reinstated it in 2002. Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agency in 2017, citing its alleged anti-Israel bias. Tel Aviv announced its withdrawal at the same time, and the withdrawals took effect in January 2018.
The current president, Joe Biden, declared, when he took office, that he intended to rejoin UNESCO.
In March, when the budget for the next fiscal year was presented, Under Secretary of State for Management John Bass said the administration believed joining UNESCO would help the United States in its global rivalry with China, which has invested heavily in UN organizations.
“It will help us address a key opportunity cost that our absence is creating in our global competition with China,” he said.
“If we are really serious about competing with China in the digital age, in my view, with a well-defined set of interests, we cannot afford to be absent from one of the main forums where the rules are set. To science. and technological education,” he added.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created in 1945.
Source: TSF
