By IANS,
Moscow: The Palestinian National Authority (PNA)’s admission to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) is an important step for it to become a full member of the UN, said a senior official of the Russian State Duma.
“This is undoubtedly an absolutely correct and very positive decision,” Xinhua quoted Leonid Slutsky, the deputy chairman of State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, as saying Monday.
He hailed this as “another step along the road of international recognition of an independent Palestinian state”.
The chairman of the committee, Konstantin Kosachev, however, warned that people should not overestimate the consequences of the move.
“It (Palestine’s Unesco membership) is nothing more but a stimulus and a signal to the world states to recognise Palestine as an independent state,” he said.
Palestine’s application for Unesco membership was approved at the 36th session of the organisation’s General Conference in Paris Monday.