27 May 2004
This year’s Teachers’ Forum had the title “25 years VIC”, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Vienna International Centre, which is being observed in 2004. As in previous years, the event was organised jointly by the United Nations Information Service Vienna, the Austrian Ministry of Education and the City of Vienna.
The purpose of the Teachers’ Forum was to give school teachers the opportunity to find out more about the activities of the United Nations programmes and specialized agencies based in the Vienna International Centre, and to give the programmes and organizations concerned the opportunity to promote their work among educators in the host country.
The audience consisted of teachers from different schools all over Austria, mainly at secondary level, but also from primary schools. 52 teachers attended, as well as representatives from the co-organizers (Austrian Ministry of Education and City of Vienna), the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the Vienna education board.
The programme of the one-day event included lectures by representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom). A representative of the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs provided an overview of the host country perspective on Vienna as a United Nations headquarters. The programme also included a guided tour of the Vienna International Centre, visits to the UNOOSA exhibition and the CTBTO PrepCom International Data Centre, and an overview of the Visitors Service’s guided tours programme for school classes.
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