Current positions

Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Diplomatic experience

- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to France.

- Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Principality of Monaco.

- Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Bulgaria to UNESCO.

- Representative of the Bulgarian Government to the Executive Board of UNESCO (since the election of Bulgaria in October 2007).

- Personal Representative of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria to Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

- Deputy Chairperson, Group of Francophone Countries at UNESCO.

- Chairperson of the Second Extraordinary Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (February 2008, Sofia).

Parliamentary experience

- Deputy Chairperson of the Foreign Policy, Defense and Security Committee.

- Member of the European Integration Committee.

- Deputy Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee Bulgaria – European Union.

Civil Society experience

- Founder and Chairperson of the European Policy Forum (since its inception in Sofia in 1997), a non-profit, non-governmental organization.

- Member of the Literary group fr:Prix des Ambassadeur.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs experience

November 1996 - February 1997:

- Minister of Foreign Affairs, cabinet of Zhan Videnov, Bulgarian Socialist Party

June 1995 - February 1997, other positions held in the cabinet of Zhan Videnov, Bulgarian Socialist Party:

- First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in charge of UN, OSCE, EU and NATO.

- Chief co-ordinator of Bulgaria–EU relations.

- Co-Chairperson, Bulgaria – EU Association Committee.

- National PHARE Co-ordinator.

- Chairperson, Inter-Agency Co-ordination Commission on European Integration (at deputy ministerial level).

- Took part as head of delegation or keynote speaker in a number of international fora.

- Member of the Board of Trustees of the Centre for European Studies.

UNESCO

On 22 September 2009, Bokova was elected Director-General of UNESCO. She defeated nine candidates at the election in Paris, with Farouk Hosny ultimately being defeated by 31-27 in the fifth and last round of voting.Hosny had been expected to win but attracted criticism from figures such as Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel over his anti-Israel statements. She took over the position from Koïchiro Matsuura of Japan. She entered the office of the Director-General as both the first woman, and the first Eastern European to take this role.On 15 October 2009, The 35th Session of the General Conference elected Irina Bokova of Bulgaria as the tenth Director-General of UNESCO. The investiture took place in a ceremony in Room I in the afternoon of Friday 23 October 2009.

On 4 October 2013, the Executive Board of UNESCO nominated her for second term as Director-General.She was re-elected by the UNESCO General Conference on 12 November 2013.