site.btaBokova: "Regardless of Whom Bulgaria Will Nominate for UN Head, What Matters Is to Maintain Dignity"

Bokova: "Regardless of Whom Bulgaria Will Nominate for UN Head, What Matters Is to Maintain Dignity"

Sofia, January 29 (BTA) - "Regardless of what decision the Bulgarian Government will take, regardless of whom it will nominate for UN Secretary-General, what matters is to maintain our dignity," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova told reporters here on Friday, approached for comment on opinions that her nomination for head of the World Body is tardy.

"Ask this question to the Government. I suppose it supports me - I have been told so on several occasions by both the Government and the Prime Minister," she pointed out.

In her words, the most important thing is that news about scandals, slander campaigns and discrediting disclosures should not originate from Bulgaria. "I am very saddened by what is going on. We must live up to expectations of a country that could nominate a candidate for this office. Let there be a serious debate about the UN, about the global conflicts, about the role of Bulgaria, about the way in which Bulgaria can help address these problems," Bokova said.

She arrived from Paris to open an exhibition entitled "Surova in the Pernik Area" at the National Ethnographic Museum and to present the people of Pernik (Southwestern Bulgaria) with the certificate on the inscription of this folk feast on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.