On Monday, Audrey Azoulay began her first official visit to China as Director-General of UNESCO with a historic meeting with the President Xi Jinping.

It is the first time a Chinese President has ever received a UNESCO Director-General. This follows a watershed moment for China-UNESCO relations when President Xi visited UNESCO Headquarters in 2014, his first visit to a UN Organization.

For the Director-General, this visit marks “the beginning of a new era for the strategic partnership between China and UNESCO”. She stressed her conviction that “multilateralism is more important than ever for responding to contemporary challenges” and hailed “China’s remarkable commitment within the multilateral system.”

Audrey Azoulay also highlighted “the modernity of UNESCO’s mission to build a more human future through education, culture and the sciences.”

During the meeting, they discussed opportunities for strengthening the strategic partnership between China and UNESCO in education, emphasizing Africa and the promotion of girls' and women education – the two global priorities of UNESCO; in culture: the Director-General underscored the importance of Chinese cultural Heritage (China is second country in the World Heritage ranking); and on artificial intelligence: she will visit the Artificial Intelligence Institute of Tsinghua University.

She continued her visit with a dinner on Monday with the First Lady, Peng Liyuan, UNESCO Special Envoy for Girls’ and Women’s Education. The Director-General wishes to express her gratitude for the First Lady’s commitment as “girls’ and women’s education is an important driver for inclusive and sustainable development”.

本周一，奥德蕾·阿祖莱开始了她担任联合国教科文组织总干事以来的首次正式对华访问，并与习近平主席举行历史性会晤。

这是中国国家主席第一次接待来访的教科文组织总干事。教科文组织亦是习近平主席访问的第一个联合国机构，他于2014年访问教科文组织巴黎总部，开启了双方关系的新时代。

对于总干事来说，这次访问标志着“中国与联合国教科文组织战略伙伴关系新纪元的开始”。她强调 “多边主义对于应对当前挑战比以往任何时候更为重要”，并盛赞“中国在多边体系中的卓越承诺”。

阿祖莱还强调了“教科文组织通过教育、文化和科学建立更加人性化的未来这一使命的时代性”。

双方在会谈中探讨了在教育、文化和人工智能等方面强化双边战略伙伴关系的机会。 在教育领域，非洲和女童、妇女教育是教科文组织的两大全球优先事项；在文化领域，总干事强调了中国文化遗产的重要性（中国在世界遗产数量的排名中居全球第二位）；在人工智能方面，她将访问清华大学人工智能研究院。

当天总干事还出席了习近平主席夫人、教科文组织促进女童和妇女教育特使彭丽媛举行的晚宴。她衷心感谢彭丽媛女士的付出，因为“女童和妇女教育是促进包容和可持续发展的重要动力”。

(Source: UNESCO)