No Project More Important than Education

The Icelandic Government has decided that Iceland will become a member of DAC, the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD. This came forth in a speech made by Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, the Foreign Minister, regarding foreign affairs at the parliament. She said in the speech that a new legal framework concerning Iceland’s international affairs towards developing countries was made under the auspices of the ministry this summer. Furthermore, Ingibjörg said that Iceland, as a rich country, had a duty to make every effort to become one of the states that contribute the most to development compared to gross domestic product.

“Iceland’s emphasis concerning development is of course based on the Millennium Development Goals and I believe that in the next few years we should mainly focus on education, health service, gender equality and sustainable development. The guiding light of Iceland’s development cooperation is and should be to support the developing countries to sustainability regarding economic and welfare issues and in relation to that no project is more important than education and knowledge-sharing. The Icelandic people have a lot to offer, especially in Africa where there is the greatest need for support concerning the development of welfare-services, the economy and human rights,” said Ingibjörg Sólrún.

She also mentioned that is was especially joyous that our support to education through the work of ICEIDA has increased in the past few years and now more funds are allocated to educational projects in the developing countries than any other projects. “This in an important development and I believe it is the right prioritisation,” she said.

“I want to put a special emphasis on issues concerning women and children in all of Iceland’s development cooperation. With increased donations to key UN institutions which deal with issues regarding women and children, Iceland will become one of the states that contribute the most to relevant institutions compared to number of inhabitants,” said Ingibjörg Sólrún.