PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has launched a charm offensive against UNESCO in a bid to keep the U.S.'s seat on the world cultural agency's executive board.

Kerry will make his case Sunday for U.S.' re-election to a gathering of UNESCO's 195 member states and nine associate members as he travels between meetings in Italy and Spain.

The bid ahead of next month's vote is likely to run into resistance as the U.S. stopped paying its dues to the U.N.'s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization following the body's decision to admit Palestine in 2011. The U.S. lost its vote in UNESCO's general assembly in 2013.

The State Department says it remains determined to resolve the funding issue, and that U.S. leadership at UNESCO remains important.