The UAE will back Egypt s candidate for the post of the director-general of UNESCO, Egypt s state-run agency MENA reported on Sunday.
A statement by the UAE foreign ministry cited the "historical and brotherly relations between Egypt and the UAE, as well as Egypt s contribution to human civilisation and role in cultural and scientific progress."
In July 2016, Egypt nominated Moushira Khattab, a former minister of family and population, for the position.
The vote to decide who will head the UN s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will take place in October.
A former ambassador, Khattab graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University in 1967.
She began her diplomatic career in 1968, and was Egypt s ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1990 to 1995, and ambassador to South Africa from 1995 to 1999, before becoming an assistant foreign minister.
In 2002, she was appointed secretary-general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and in 2010 was appointed to head the short-lived ministry of family and population.
Khattab is not the first Egyptian to be nominated for the UNESCO position.
In 2009, Egypt nominated former minister of culture Farouk Hosni for the post. Hosni lost the election amid allegations of anti-Semitism tied to remarks he made during his term as culture minister.
