Wednesday, February 15, 2006

The Sixth E-9 Ministerial Meeting on Education

Ministers from the nine countries with the largest populations are meeting in Mexico from February 13th to 15th to discuss Education for All. The nine countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan) account for over half of the world’s school-age population, 45 percent of the 100 million children who are out-of-school and over 70 percent of the 771 million adult illiterates around the globe.

The meeting is part of the UNESCO Education for All program.

The E-9 Initiative was launched in 1993, In New Delhi, India, on the occasion of the EFA Summit of the Nine High-Population countries. Heads-of-state or government of the so called E-9 countries ('E' for education and 9 for nine countries) at the meeting pledged to universalize primary education and significantly reduce illiteracy in their respective countries.

At the close of the meeting today, the ministers are to adopt a joint communiqué. Concluding remarks are to be presented by the Minister of Education of Mexico, the Director-General of UNESCO, and a representative of Indonesia, where the next E-9 meeting will be held.

The Director-General of UNESCO and the ministers will give a press conference at 6 p.m. today, February 15.

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