UNITED NATIONS, Sept 12: The United States will rejoin the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after an 18-year absence, US President George Bush said on Thursday.

“As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO,” Bush said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

“This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights, tolerance and learning,” he said.

The administration of US President Ronald Reagan pulled the United States out of UNESCO in 1984 to protest the way the organization was managed and was seeking to establish a “new world information order” that Washington said could restrict press freedom.

A senior US official said some the United States still had concerns about UNESCO but that they were relatively minor and could be addressed.

“We felt that this was the right time to come back in,” the official said.

Britain and Singapore also walked out over policies instituted by UNESCO’s then-director, Amadou Mahtar M’Bow.

President Bill Clinton advocated towards the end of his term that the United States think about resuming its contribution to UNESCO in 2002 as a prelude to rejoining the organization.

He said UNESCO had implemented significant reforms and US participation could help tackle serious problems such as the gap between rich and poor nations, education and the need for scientific cooperation.

Compromises over a dispute concerning the back payment of Washington’s UN dues opened the way for reconsideration of the issue.

The House Foreign Relations Committee in May approved a measure to ask Bush to rejoin UNESCO while unblocking some 60 million dollars in back dues. —AFP