Saudi Arabia on Thursday affirmed that financing education for all is the best way to battle poverty. In a speech he delivered late on Thursday, the third day of the UN General Assembly Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) summit, Tariq Al-Fayez, Second Secretary with the UN Saudi mission, emphasized the importance of assisting the least developed countries. He said that saudi Arabia has focused on the importance of education for all, and has seen a dramatic increase in student enrollment in schools. Al-Fayez said Saudi Arabia's overall goal is to see 100 percent of the country's students enrolled in education, surpassing the 95-percent rate of 2005. “Not only did the Kingdom see progress in education, but also in children's health,” Al-Fayez said. “Children's mortality rates under the age of five years old have decreased following the Kingdom's adoption of a health system in 2003.” Al-Fayez said a public institution has been set up to ensure medicine, food and chemical products for everyone. He further said that Saudi Arabia is one of the developing countries that is alleviating poverty, Al-Fayez said. He cited the Kingdom's efforts to assist the least developed countries in establishing infrastructures for the future, calling it “Saudi Arabia's human and moral response.” He went on to say that Saudi Arabia contributed $6.6 billion for development projects in 68 countries, including contributions to the United Nations development program, the UN Children's fund, the World Food Program, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and others. The MDGS are important because of their contribution to sustainable development, Al-Fayez said. He said the Kingdom has also contributed to alleviating HIV and AIDS, and added that gender equality and increasing the role of women, among other goals he listed, should be at the forefront of the General Assembly's focus. The MDGS are eight goals to improve the lives of people around the world. the goals, to be achieved by 2015, are eradicating poverty, accomplishing universal primary education, empowering women, lowering children deaths, advancing the health of pregnant women, combating HIV and AIDS, reducing loss of natural resources, and a global partnership to help developing countries. __
