The 4th Ministerial Review Meeting on EFA of E-9 Opens In Beijing

Educational Experts of 9 Highly-Populated Countries Meet in Beijing

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The 4th Ministerial Review Meeting on Education for All (EFA) of the Nine High-Population Countries (E-9) opened Wednesday in Beijing.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing addressed the opening ceremony of the meeting, which is sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and attended by education officials and experts from Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan and China.

Li, on behalf of the Chinese government, offered congratulations to the meeting and warmly welcomed all the participants.

He spoke highly of UNESCO's role in promoting the EFA program and basic education as well as the illiteracy elimination work among all the world countries, especially the developing countries.

The Vice Premier said that the Chinese government has long placed great importance on the EFA drive and by the end of 2000, China had achieved its goal of making the nine-year compulsory education universal and eliminating illiteracy among the middle aged.

He noted that there is plenty of opportunity for all nine participant countries to cooperate with each other, and China is certainly willing to work alongside UNESCO and other countries in the field of education.

Koichiro Matsuura, director-general of UNESCO, also addressed the opening ceremony, saying that though great achievements have been scored in promoting EFA in the nine countries in the past decade, the organization will continue its efforts in this regard.