The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gathered its 193 members Friday to approve the United States returning as a full-fledged member to the U.N. committee.

"With this return, UNESCO will be in an even stronger position to carry out its mandate," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement. "UNESCO's mandate — education, science, culture, freedom of information — is absolutely central to meeting the challenges of the 21st century. It is this centrality, as well as the easing of political tensions within the Organization and the initiatives launched in recent years, that have led the United States to initiate this return."

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The U.S. owed over $540 million to UNESCO after then-President Barack Obama stopped paying dues in 2011. Along with the debts collected between 2011 and 2017 being paid, it will cost the U.S. a total of $619 million to rejoin, according to UNESCO's press release.

Additionally, the country will pay roughly $100 million annually, 22% of the committee's budget, to remain a voting member.

Then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the organization in 2017 because of its "anti-Israel bias." However, the U.S. was looking to join again in December when Congress passed a bill that allotted over $540 million toward the debt it owed to UNESCO since payment on dues stopped in 2011. The State Department is permitted to use the money until fall 2025, when it will expire as Azoulay's term ends. In that same bill, $3.3 billion in military aid was provided to Israel.

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President Ronald Reagan was the first to announce U.S. withdrawal in 1983, followed by Margaret Thatcher’s United Kingdom. Then, President George W. Bush re-entered in 2003, and the country paid its dues to remain a voting member until 2011.

The U.S. will fully return in July.