UNESCO will choose its next chief on Monday to lead the organisation after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it for a second time.
While outgoing chief Audrey Azoulay has worked to diversify funding sources, the U.N. culture and education agency still receives about 8% of its budget from Washington. Once the withdrawal takes effect at the end of 2026, that funding will be cut.
The White House described UNESCO as supporting “woke, divisive cultural and social causes” when Trump decided to pull the U.S. out in July, repeating a move he took in his first term that was reversed by Joe Biden.
The agency, founded after World War Two to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture, is best known for designating and protecting archaeological and heritage sites, from the Galapagos Islands to the tombs of Timbuktu.
Former Egyptian tourism and antiquities minister Khaled El-Enany, 54, is up against Édouard Firmin Matoko, 69, of Republic of Congo, who has spent much of his career working for the agency.
El-Enany is the favourite to win the secret ballot for a four-year term, having launched his campaign early in April 2023, and he has since built strong regional backing and international alliances.
“How come a country like Egypt, with its long history, with layers of Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Coptic, Arab, Islamic civilisation, has not led this important organisation? This is not acceptable at all,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said in Paris last week.
UNESCO’s board, which represents 58 of the agency’s 194 member states, will vote on Monday before its general assembly in November formalises the appointment.
Azoulay, from France, has completed the maximum two four-year terms.
-Reuters