Permanent secretary, Dr. Ahmed Salih attends the 99th session of United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) executive council

Permanent Secretary, Dr. Ahmed Salih attended the 99th Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from 1 to 4th October 2014.

Permanent Secretary, Dr. Ahmed Salih attended the 99th Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from 1 to 4th October 2014.

The Executive Council is UNWTO’s governing board, and it has the responsibility of ensuring that the UNWTO carries out its mandate and complies with the allocated budget and deliverables are achieved. The UNWTO Executive Council meets at least twice a year and is ‎composed by Members elected by the UNWTO General Assembly with a ratio of one for every ‎five Full Members. As host country of UNWTO´s Headquarters, Spain has a permanent ‎seat on the Executive Council. Representatives of the Associate Members and Affiliate ‎Members participate in Executive Council meetings as observers. This sessions was chaired by Indonesia and co-chaired by Jamaica and Mozambique. A total of 120 participants attended the 99th session and they included 33 Members – 24 UNWTO Executive Council Members and 9 UNWTO Members attending as Observers.

As Maldives is a member of the Program and Budget Committee (PBC), Dr Salih attended the session of the PBC held on 1st October 2014 at 1200 hrs which was the 5th PBC meeting. Argentina was the Chair of this committee. Secretary General (SG) of UNWTO, Dr Taleb Rifai presented a summary of the administrative and statutory measures to the committee. In this presentation SG covered financial situation of the organisation, application of Article 34 of the Statutes and paragraph 13 of the Financing Rules, UNWTO restated Statement of Financial Position compliant with International Public Sector Accounting Standards, Information and communication technologies at the UNWTO Secretariat, recommendations provided by Joint Inspection Unit and External Auditors Reports. He also briefly explained the implementation of Implementation of the general programme of work for the period 2014-2015, and the preparatory work being done to finalize the general programme of work of UNWTO for 2016-2017.

Following the presentation, opportunities were given to members for any queries and clarifications. Mr. José García Blanch, Director of Administration and Finance at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), provided additional details based on the queries raised by members.

The official opening of the 99th Session of the Executive Council took place on 2nd October 2014. The President of Uzbekistan, HE Islam Karimov gave the official opening statement followed by the statement by the UNWTO Secretary General.

In his opening speech the President shared information on the rapid development of the tourism industry of Uzbekistan, its potential for expansion of tourism industry in the country and the important role being played by the tourism industry in the development of the nation. In this regard, President Karimov said that over US$ 615 million was earned as tourism exports in the form of services in 2013, more than 200,000 people are working in tourism industry (both direct and indirect) and its share in Uzbekistan’s GDP exceeded 2%. President Islam Karimov said that currently there are 550 tourism agencies and 110 international tourism routes, which cover majority of historic objects and architectural monuments in the country. He said that over 500 hotels, motels and camping sites with 50,000 rooms provide services in line with international standards. Uzbek President said that Uzbekistan modernized Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench, Ferghana and Navoi airports. Currently, there are 11 international airports in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is connected by flight to over 50 cities of Europe, Asia, Middle East and North America, he added. President Islam Karimov said that high speed railway train has been launched between Tashkent and Samarkand.

The President also touched the topic of “The Great Silk Road” and the role played by the tourism industry in uniting people and developing trade. He also stressed the importance of enhancing the quality of experience of tourists visiting a destination by providing opportunities to learn history, culture, customs and traditions of that particular destination which will lead to enhancement of mutual understanding and strengthening tolerance among people and nations. President also touched the challenges such as global economic and financial crisis, peace and security, political and economic stability in the world as a whole, international terrorism and extremism, growing radicalism, local wars and risks to travel security as obstacles which nullify any efforts to develop tourism. Development of tourism infrastructure, easy access to tourist sites, convenient transportation, modern information technologies, national budget allocations, capital financing, benefits, preferences and incentives for private capital and business to invest in the tourism industry, and development of tourism infrastructure including tourist accommodation, efficient and effective transport networks and state of the art communication networks and other tourist services. Furthermore he stressed the importance of studying and preservation of historical sites, monuments of architecture and art of various epochs and civilizations, training and retraining of highly qualified personnel. simplification of visa procedures and other bureaucratic formalities related to tourism, including providing necessary financial guarantees to tourism investment companies.

In his speech, the Secretary General, Dr Taleb Rifai expressed his gratitude to the President for inaugurating the 99thsession and hosting this session. He thanked the people of Uzbekistan for the excellent hospitality extended to all the participants and the excellent organizational arrangements put in place. He re-iterated some of the key points highlighted by the President as challenges and said we all need to keep these in mind and must try to change them to an opportunity.

In the first working session, SG reported his report in 2 parts. In the first part, he addressed the current situation and activities of UNWTO. In this part he covered (a) International tourism in 2014 and prospects for 2015, (b) Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda, (c) Implementation of the general programme of work for 2014-2015, (d) Preparation of the general programme of work for 2016-2017, (e) UNWTO activities in the United Nations system, (f) World Tourism Day 2014,  and (g) Report of the Working Group on Official Development Assistance

This was followed by the Report of the Programme and Budget Committee (Programme part) and then by the second part of the Report by SG, which covered the Administrative and statutory matters of UNWTO including (a) Financial situation of the Organization, (b) Application of Article 34 of the Statutes and paragraph 13 of the Financing Rules, (c) IPSAS progress report: UNWTO restated Statement of Financial Position compliant with IPSAS as at 1 January 2014, (d) Information and communication technologies at the Secretariat, (e) Joint Inspection Unit recommendations in the context of the White Paper, and (f) New membership.

Following SG’s report the Chair of the PBC presented the budget report for last year.  Following which the reports of (a) Report of the Chair of the Affiliate Members, (b) Report of the Committee for the Review of Applications for Affiliate Membership were presented.

Following the reports the discussion was open on the thematic “Tourism and Culture: Creating New Partnership Models”. All the members recognized the important role culture could play in the development of tourism and that this important asset must be protected and preserved and most importantly utilized for the benefit of the people and the tourist. In this regard Dr Salih proposed the revival of maritime silk route in the broad framework of “The Great Silk Road” and also to include marine heritage. This was proposed based on the recent developments in this regard following the official visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China HE Xi Jinping. Following Dr Salih’s proposal, SG recognized the proposal and said will be an important addition to the current Great Silk Route Project.

Jamaica was elected to be the Chair, Mozambique as First Vice Chair and Croatia as second Vice-Chair of the Council for 2015.

Several decisions were made by the council based on the reports and recommendations by the various committees and by SG. Some of the key decisions are briefly given below.

• continue to work toward realizing the mandate of UNWTO, and particularly to ensure the sustainable development of tourism sector,
• maximize the use of culture for tourism development,
• encourage members to accept the open letter,
• encourage members to support tourism’s positioning in the international agenda, in particular in the framework of the ongoing UN processes,
• encourage members to join and promote the UNWTO/UNODC/UNESCO anti-trafficking campaign
• encourage members to take an active role in the UNWTO/ICAO/ and UNWTO/UNESCO Conferences
• urges all UNWTO members to complete the online survey to allow a more inclusive and representative picture of everyone’s needs in preparation of the general program of work for 2016-2017
• requests the SG to further strengthen the advocacy efforts in positioning tourism as a sector with high impact for development and NWTO as a “development” UN agency through tis wide political messaging, and to continue exploring alternatives the at best fit the specificities of UNWTO, in order to move towards the objective of attaining full ODA eligibility for UNWTO,
• reminds members to pay their contributions to the budget within the time period stipulated by regulation 7(2) of the Financial Regulations,
• requests the Program and Budget Committee to review the reports for the period 2006-2012 agreed with the Joint Inspection Unit for detailed consideration and report back at a subsequent session of the Executive Council prior to the 21st session of the General Assembly with a proposed course of action, including updating the White Paper Implementation Plan, as appropriate.
• encourages in particular SG to continue his efforts vis-à-vis non-member sates, with a view to their possible membership,
• approved the PBC report (budget component),
• encourage member states to help identify potential Affiliate Members from their countries that could be contacted by the Secretariat, particularly in countries that do not have any companies, organizations, academic institutions, or destination management organizations as Affiliate Members,

The Executive Council was concluded with extending sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Chair, H.E. Mr Sapta Nirwandar, Vice-Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia, to the first Vice-Chair, Ms Jennifer Griffith, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment of Jamaica, and to the second Vice-Chair, Ms Isabel Maira Estevao Macie, National Director for Planning and cooperation, Ministry of Tourism of Mozambique, to the Council for their dynamic leadership and for their personal contributions to the successful deliberation of its various agenda times and to the host for the excellent hospitality and arrangements.

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