UN Resident Coordinator Ms. Nileema Noble graced the closing ceremonies at the Manila Hotel Centennial Hall and delivered the key message on behalf of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

She was welcomed by Ms. Jeniffer Walpole, Secreatry General of ITI, Ms. Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Executive Director, National Commission for Culture and Arts, and Ambassador Preciosa Soliven, Secretary General of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.

For one week, international and national theater luminaries from 90 countries participated in the 31st UNESCO – International Theater Institute (ITI) World Congress and Theater Olympics of Nations with the theme “Ancestral Roots to New Artistic Routes of Expression: Mobilizing Cultural Diversity to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”

For the first time in the country, theater enthusiasts were treated to an array of cultural plays from around the world at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).