Harare — UNESCO has proposed a budget of US$653 million for the year 2010-11, which Zimbabwe describes as "shoe-string" arguing that it does not meet developing countries needs.

Speaking at Unesco's 35th general conference currently underway in Paris, France, Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Stan Mudenge said the amount was too low to cover education, science, culture and communication.

"We are disappointed that there is little or no evidence of new initiatives or mobilisation of additional, financial or human resources in support of 'Priority Africa'. Paying lip-service to 'Priority Africa' is bad for the image of our organisation," Minister Mudenge said.

He, however, applauded Unesco for its contributions in strengthening teacher and university education as well as culture and tourism among others.

The Assembly of Ministers of Education from Southern and Eastern Africa attending the conference unanimously agreed to relocate the Co-ordinating Centre of Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Quality from Paris to Harare.

SAQMEC was initiated by Zimbabwe in 1999 and has produced many educational materials and set benchmarks on quality education.

The success of this initiative resulted in it being extended to embrace countries of Southern and Eastern Africa.

Participants and the conference also agreed to retain the office of the National Educational Statistic and Indicators Systems at the Unesco Harare cluster office.

Nesis' mandate is to capacitate education ministers with analytical tools and knowledge for in-depth studies of educational systems.

The two-week long conference, which started on October 7, is expected to confirm Mrs Irina Bokova of Bulgaria as the new Unesco director-general, replacing Koïchiro Matsuura of Japan.

The conference will also hold elections for the executive board, the governing council responsible for implementing decisions of the general conference.

Zimbabwe is one of the candidates.