Yemen officially took part in a meeting of the GCC [Archives:2002/12/Front Page]
THE GULF NEWS
For the first time ever, Yemen officially took part in a meeting of the GCC when its education minister attended the Arab Bureau of Education held at Burj Al Arab last week.
It was last year when Gulf heads of state decided to ask Yemen to take part in matters relating to GCC educational organisations.
The regular meeting of the bureau, considered a forum related to teaching, was held at the Burj Al Arab, which was attended by all GCC ministers of education.
The meeting was attended by Dr Ali Abdul Aziz Al Sharhan, UAE Minister of Education and Youth, Dr Saeed M. Al Mullais, Director General of the Arab Bureau of the Education for Gulf States, Dr Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Rashid of Saudi Arabia, Dr Musaid Rashid Al Haroun of Kuwait, Dr Ahmad Khalifa Bu Sharbak of Qatar, Yehya bin Saeed bin Mansour Al Suleimi of Oman, Dr Mohammed bin Jasim Al Ghatam of Bahrain, Dr Fadil Ali Abu Ghanim of Yemen and Gudmond Hernes, Director of International Institute for Educ-ational Planning.
The ministers discussed educational and cultural issues relating to the region, tackling them according to expectations of heads of GCC states who aim to raise the level of education to the highest in the world.
Dr Al Sharhan said: “I would like to congratulate Dr Abu Ghanim on his first appearance in representing Yemen in the Arab Bureau of Education for Gulf States.
The Yemen Ministry of Education taking part in this meeting is of great importance and it comes at a time when education and culture are needed for many reasons.
“Most of our countries in the region need education to combat the forces that trap people in poverty, foster life skills, improve functioning of local economics, provide capacities to participate in a rapidly developing global economy, preserve national culture and improve governance,” he said.
Listing some of the solutions that need to be undertaken, Dr Al Sharhan added: “We need to seek the future in returning to the past and translate our talents into competence. What we get from globalisation depends clearly on our contribution. We need also to innovate in order to create wealth and welfare from minds and not just from wells that can be done by strategic planning and good management.”
Dr Al Mullais said: “I would like to thank our new colleague Dr Abu Ghanim for attending the meeting for the first time with us and representing Yemen for the first time. Yemen’s participation in the bureau is essential for education and culture and we expect a positive output in the near future.
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