Gabriela Ramos, Mexico’s nominee for UNESCO Director-General for the 2026–2029 term, was in Delhi last week to get India's support ahead of the election for the top UN post in October. Her candidacy emphasizes global equity, sustainability, and ethical technology governance. Speaking to WION's Sidhant Sibal, she said, "my strategy has 3 I- inclusiveness, innovation and impact, to make the three pillars of UNESCO, Culture, Education and Science much more important in our development path, and also to make UNESCO, of course, more effective and more useful for all of you".

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UNESCO or United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations, and focuses on access to quality education for all, protection of cultural heritage sites through the World Heritage Convention, addressing illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts among other key things. Full interview:

Sidhant Sibal: Your big focus during India visit?

Gabriela Ramos: I have been in Delhi many, many times. I was in Delhi because of the G20, I was in Delhi because I was a Sherpa before, and I was in Delhi because of Yoga Day. I have many, many Indian friends, but I came because I have this great honor of having my country and President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, putting my name to run for the director general of UNESCO, which will be decided in October this year. But of course, to connect with the authorities in India that are going to take the decision among the candidates that are presented for this job. And I'm really hoping to count on the support of India.

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Sidhant Sibal: As a candidate, what's your priority?

Gabriela Ramos: UNESCO is very admired and very liked because we promote cultural heritage. India, with this amazing culture and with history and rich diversity, has 42 World Heritage Sites. But you also have intangibles. And now we have the Bhagavad Gita in the Memory of the World Register, and we saw that your Prime Minister was very proud about it. But we need to bring all of the other aspects of UNESCO to the very same knowledge, to the very same closeness to people, but also to the very same impact. And these are education, these are science, and these are, for example, how to deal with artificial intelligence. That is my strength, because I have been working on that. My strategy has 3 I- inclusiveness, innovation and impact, to make the three pillars of UNESCO, Culture, Education and Science much more important in our development path, and also to make UNESCO, of course, more effective and more useful for all of you.

Sidhant Sibal: If you would like to talk about perhaps the Indian role, we have seen India have been able to list many of its cultural sites and also intangible heritage also being listed. If you would like to shed this light about the Indian proactiveness to list its heritage.

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Gabriela Ramos: That's a very, very important point. And I think that there are many, many other sites that India could put in those lists. But I think that India has done something very important, and we have done it together, because in the G20 they were able to negotiate, and have a very important outcome, the need to have a culture as a sustainable development goal for the next edition of the goals, but also as a public good. Meaning for your audience, that culture should not be only in the museum. Should not only be in the theaters. It has to be part of the development agenda. It has to be included in our economic plans, in our touristic plans, all these beauty that you have in India in terms of the sites for them to become part of touristic promotion, or creative economies, or linking all the intangibles, the dances, the music, the folklore, with the cultural sites, that will be very important. But then it's not only about that. Is about a world that is facing the fast pace technological disruption with artificial intelligence. We need to see how we incorporate these technologies that are disrupting everywhere and everything to make sure that they deliver better outcomes for people. And remember that UNESCO is also the house of the ethics, ethics of science and technology, and we will be looking into these issues, along with our dear partners in India. And it happens to be that India is also very strong on digital transformation, on ICT, on artificial intelligence. I myself participated with your ministry of digital and Digital India in the G20 and we worked hand by hand to ensure that artificial intelligence is delivered for good.