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Top Three UNESCO Candidates Maintain Position After Second Round

UNESCO
UNESCO
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Top Three UNESCO Candidates Maintain Position After Second Round

UNESCO
UNESCO

Paris- The ranking of the top three candidates did not change in the second round of the UNESCO elections for a new director-general held Tuesday afternoon as Qatar’s candidate for the post of Director-General of the UN organization Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari remained in the lead with 20 votes out of the total 58 votes.

The second of four rounds of voting ended with the Egyptian candidate, Moushira Khattab nestling in third place with 12 votes.Her Qatari and French rivals garnered 20 and 13 ballots respectively, a statement from the organization on Tuesday revealed. In the first round, the Qatari, French, and Egyptian candidates got respectively 19, 13, and 11 votes.

Lebanese Candidate Vera El Khoury Lacoeuilhe received three votes, and Chinese candidate Qian Tang and Pham Sanh Chau of Vietnam garnered five votes each.

Polad Bulbuloglu from Azerbaijan retreated and did not compete in the second round while two other candidates are expected to retreat today, allowing the picture to become clearer.

Tuesday’s results were unexpected for the Lebanese candidate and contradicted with her team's expectations of getting additional votes (between two and three votes).

A representative of an Arab country told Asharq Al-Awsat that the United States and Britain voted in the first session in favor of Khoury Lacoeuilhe and not for the French candidate, which was also confirmed by French official sources.

Khattab said it was so far so good for her since she remains among the top three candidates for UNESCO’s top job.

According to her, the result would prompt Egypt into making the right steps required to pull off the ultimate victory in the run-off.

The winning candidate must obtain 30 votes, which did not occur in the first round but possible by a potential fifth round, which is to be held on Friday. The candidates who amassed the highest number of votes in the fourth round will compete in the fifth.

The new director-general of UNESCO will be named on October 13. Then, 195 members in the General Conference will be appointed in view of recommendations from UNESCO’s Executive Board.

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Australia, Britain Sign 50-Year AUKUS Submarine Partnership Treaty

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) poses with Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong (L), Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy (2nd-L), Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey (2nd-R) and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) before the start of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) meeting in Sydney on July 25, 2025. (AFP)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) poses with Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong (L), Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy (2nd-L), Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey (2nd-R) and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) before the start of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) meeting in Sydney on July 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Australia, Britain Sign 50-Year AUKUS Submarine Partnership Treaty

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) poses with Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong (L), Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy (2nd-L), Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey (2nd-R) and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) before the start of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) meeting in Sydney on July 25, 2025. (AFP)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) poses with Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong (L), Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy (2nd-L), Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey (2nd-R) and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles (R) before the start of the Australia-UK Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN) meeting in Sydney on July 25, 2025. (AFP)

Australia’s government said on Saturday it signed a treaty with Britain to bolster cooperation over the next 50 years on the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership.

The AUKUS pact, agreed upon by Australia, Britain and the US in 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. US President Donald Trump’s administration announced a formal review of the pact this year.

Defense Minister Richard Marles said in a statement that the bilateral treaty was signed with Britain’s Defense Secretary John Healey on Saturday after a meeting in the city of Geelong, in Victoria state.

“The Geelong Treaty will enable comprehensive cooperation on the design, build, operation, sustainment, and disposal of our SSN-AUKUS submarines,” the statement said.

The treaty was a “commitment for the next 50 years of UK-Australian bilateral defense cooperation under AUKUS Pillar I,” it said, adding that it built on the “strong foundation” of trilateral AUKUS cooperation.

Britain’s ministry of defense said this week that the bilateral treaty would underpin the two allies’ submarine programs and was expected to be worth up to 20 billion pounds ($27.1 billion) for Britain in exports over the next 25 years.

AUKUS is Australia’s biggest-ever defense project, with Canberra committing to spend A$368 billion over three decades to the program, which includes billions of dollars of investment in the US production base.

Australia, which this month paid A$800 million to the US in the second instalment under AUKUS, has maintained it is confident the pact will proceed.

The defense and foreign ministers of Australia and Britain held talks on Friday in Sydney on boosting cooperation, coinciding with Australia’s largest war games.

As many as 40,000 troops from 19 countries are taking part in the Talisman Sabre exercises held from July 13 to August 4, which Australia’s military has said are a rehearsal for joint warfare to maintain Indo-Pacific stability.

Britain has significantly increased its participation in the exercise co-hosted by Australia and the United States, with aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales taking part this year.