On the afternoon of May 12, 2026, President Xi Jinping met with Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Khaled El-Enany at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

President Xi noted that UNESCO has made important contributions to greater understanding and trust among peoples and exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and played a proactive role in reforming and improving global governance on education, science and culture. He said that China actively supports the work of UNESCO, and the two sides have done many things for safeguarding world peace and promoting global development. He also expressed China’s readiness to deepen strategic cooperation with UNESCO to better benefit people of all countries.

President Xi emphasized that the world’s prevailing trend of peace, development, cooperation and win-win interactions remains unchanged, but with the resurgence of the Cold War mentality, hegemonism and unilateralism, global governance has come to a new fork in the road. He underlined that China is committed to practicing true multilateralism, supports and upholds the authority of the United Nations, and supports UNESCO in playing an important role in global governance. He said that China is ready to work with UNESCO to implement the four global initiatives, enable people of all countries to share in the progress in education, science and culture, better respond to the common challenges facing human society, and jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity. He stressed the need for the two sides to deepen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), open science and digital education, advocate respect for the diversity of civilizations, promote mutual respect and harmonious coexistence among different civilizations, strengthen cooperation with the Global South countries, and promote cultural heritage preservation and cultural exchanges and mutual learning.

Director General El-Enany said that it is an honor for him to visit China for the first time as Director General of UNESCO. He stated that he hopes to bring all member states together, promote dialogue, cooperation, mutual understanding, and mutual learning among cultures, and build a UNESCO for the people. Expressing his thanks to China for the long-term, strong support to UNESCO, Director General El-Enany said that President Xi’s important speech in 2014 at the organization is still resonating today. He said that UNESCO looks forward to strengthening coordination with China to improve global educational and cultural development, promote exchanges in science and technology, deepen cooperation on AI, jointly implement the four global initiatives, and bring greater benefits to humanity.

Wang Yi was present at the meeting.