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Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Investing in quality education, and especially for girls, is the single most effective investment we can make for sustainable development.
It has been, and will continue to be, a top priority for me and my government.
In my role as head of the SDG Advocates I always say: To succeed, we must create synergies between goals. Promoting quality education has clear ripple effects.
To break the barriers to girls’ education, we need to provide safe learning environments. We must ensure that girls, as well as boys, are well nourished and healthy and thereby able to learn.
Together, we have now created important momentum in our efforts to secure girls education.
In Dakar in February, Norway pledged 276 million dollars to the Global Partnership for Education for the next three-year period.
This summer, in the Charlevoix Declaration, we made important commitments to provide safe and quality education for girls.
My government will take part in the follow-up of the declaration and join forces with the G7 and dedicated leaders in developing countries.
So far in 2018, we have dedicated approximately 440 million dollars to global education.
I am happy to announce that we will now increase our support to education, especially for girls, with close to 40 million dollars for 2018 to 19.
This is the most valuable investment we can make, and I encourage everyone to join this historic effort.
Thank you.