Al-Kuwari in final round of Unesco election

Qatar's candidate for the post of Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari has qualified for the final round of election, which will be held by Unesco's s Executive Council at its headquarters in Paris on Friday.

Al-Kuwari got 22 votes in the fourth round ahead of French and Egyptian candidates, who received 18 votes each.The next vote between the French and Egyptian candidates will see who competes with al-Kuwari in the final round to be held later on Friday.The candidates of China and Lebanon had announced their withdrawal ahead of the fourth round vote, and Thursday's contest was between the candidates of Qatar, France and Egypt.Al-Kuwari topped the voting and qualified for the final round.In a fifth round, it is not required to get 30 votes, and if the two candidates obtain the same number of votes, a draw of lots will decide the winner.Al-Kuwari's programme, launched two years ago, includes a new vision to restore the cultural renaissance of the organisation under the slogan "Towards a New Beginning for Unesco."The programme tackles the most important problems of the organisation and its reform mechanisms and strengthening its role in the fields of education, culture, science, heritage, defence of freedoms and other goals.