By APP
London : Shahid Malik, the UK Minister for International Development, is attending the 11th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
This is the first time in the OIC’s 40 year history that a UK Minister has attended the Summit. During the conference Malik will discuss a range of issues including how to get all children into school and the positive impact that can have on promoting peace, democracy and international security.
The UK has pledged to spend at least 8.5 billion pounds to support education in poorer countries over 10 years. 150 million pounds of this will be delivered through the international “Education for All” initiative.
Before leaving for Senegal, he said in a statement : “It is an honour to be attending the Islamic Summit as Britain’s first representative. The Heads of State at the summit will increasingly play a crucial role in helping to alleviate poverty. I hope to encourage the wealthy Islamic nations to work with the UK on our common objectives of reducing poverty and increasing economic growth for the poorest countries in the world.
“Education is the key to solving many problems in the world and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is keen to ensure that children everywhere are able to receive good quality education and realise their potential.
The “Education for All” initiative is crucial in achieving this and the UK has pledged to spend 8.5 billion pounds over 10 years supporting education in the poorest countries.
“The UK’s desire to eliminate world poverty and promote education are also Islamic principles and many Muslim countries are doing a tremendous amount of work on education and poverty. Together we can achieve the step change that the world so desperately needs.”
Currently there are 72 million children around the world who do not go to primary school. It is estimated that an additional pounds 5.5 billion a year by 2010, shared internationally, is needed to get every child into school.
Malik will also urge delegates from the Muslim world to take part in the major UN conference later this year on meeting the global anti-poverty targets. The conference, to be hosted by the UN Secretary General in September, will discuss the Call to Action initiative.
This was launched by Gordon Brown and Ban Ki-moon to speed up progress towards 8 anti-poverty goals, including getting all children into school.