India and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,UNESCO, have signed an agreement to establish the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development as a UNESCO category-one centre in New Delhi. The institute is the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific region and will be dedicated to research, innovation and capacity building. It will encourage knowledge exchange, regional networking and catalyse innovation by helping design and test new approaches to education.The Institute will propogate Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of peace and sustainability. AIR correspondent reports, an expert advisory group will soon be set up by the UNESCO to develop an agenda for the institute. The agreement was signed by Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal and Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokov at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sibal said, the institute comes at
the right time when the world is debating the contours of the century ahead.