In his opening speech at the General conference of UNESCO in Paris on October 16, Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov said that Bulgaria appreciated UNESCO's decisiveness to address the challenges of today's world like illiteracy, deepening poverty, exploitation, social instability, intolerance and discrimination, and the destruction of the environment.

The solution to all these problem starts with education, Purvanov said.

UNESCO's General Conference consists of the representatives of the States Members of the Organisation. It meets every two years, and is attended by Member States and Associate Members, together with observers for non-Member-States, intergovernmentalorganisations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The General Conference determines the policies and the main lines of work of the organisation. The meeting takes place from October 16 to November 3 2007 in Paris.