On April, 22nd, the President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine Sergey Bubka took part in the meeting with the CEO of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova.

The event was also attended by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Danylo Lubkivskiy, Minister of Education of Ukraine Serhiy Kvit, Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yevhen Nyschuk.

The meeting started with a ceremony of special stamp cancellation that was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Ukraine's membership in UNESCO. Then participants discussed the current issues of the development of Ukrainian culture and education.

Ms. Bokova personally addressed the President of NOC of Ukraine, calling him "our Sergey Bubka" as he is the UNESCO champion of sports.

The Director-General noted that UNESCO takes much care to support the preservation of cultural heritage of Ukraine and plans to work on improving the quality of education in the country.

"I am very pleased to be among the UNESCO Champions of sports, and to have a wonderful opportunity to contribute the promotion of peace and tolerance through sport and the Olympic movement, - said Sergey Bubka. –The main task of NOC of Ukraine is to popularize sports and healthy lifestyle, physical and spiritual enrichment of people, expansion of international cooperation."

The main Olympian of Ukraine expressed his wish and willingness of NOC of Ukraine to assist UNESCO in implementation of tasks, primarily in the preservation of cultural heritage, strengthening the role of science and education, including physical education and sport.

At the end of the meeting Sergey Bubka presented to Ms. Bokova the Olympic Books and agreed to deepen further cooperation.

Note: UNESCO Champions of Sports are prominent figures in the sports world. These are the world-class athletes who spread the ideas of ​​UNESCO around the world.

They reflect the UNESCO's concerns to promote the value of physical culture and sports in order to build a better future for younger generations.

There are 13 persons in the list of UNESCO Champions of Sports, namely: Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuania), Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan), Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica), Sergey Bubka (Ukraine), David Douillet (France), Vyacheslav Fetisov (Russia), Hakuho (Munkhbat Davaajargal) (Mongolia), Justine Henin (Belgium), Vitaliy and Wolodimir Klitschko (Ukraine), Pele (Brazil), Michael Schumacher (Germany), Jacqueline "Jackie" Silva (Brazil), Oscar Tabares (Uruguay).