By IRNA
London : International Development Minister Shahid Malik has begun a two-day visit to Senegal to become the first member of the British government to attend a summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in its 40-year history.
“It is an honor 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,” said Malik.
“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,” he said before traveling to the 11th OIC summit on Thursday.
The UK has pledged to spend at least Pnds 8.5 billion (Dlrs 17 bn) to support education in poorer countries over 10 years, some Pnds 150 million of this will be delivered through the international “Education for All” initiative.
“Education is the key to solving many problems in the world and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is keen to ensure that children everywhere are able to receive good quality education and realise their potential,” the minister said.
Malik, who was among the first two Muslim MPs to be appointed as a member of the UK government last year, said that during the conference he 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’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,” he said.
The minister said he would be urging delegates from the Muslim world to take part in the major UN conference later this year on meeting the global anti-poverty targets, including getting all children into school.
Currently it is estimated that there are 72 million children around the world who do not go to primary school and that an additional Pnds 5.5 bn a year, shared internationally, is needed to get every child into school by 2010.