LONDON, March 13: Shahid Malik, the UK Minister for International Development, the first ever official UK representative to attend a summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in its 40 years history, said he hoped to encourage the wealthy Islamic nations to work with the UK “on our common objectives of reducing poverty and increasing economic growth for the poorest countries of the world.”

Before leaving for Senegal on Thursday, Mr Malik said it was an honour for him to be attending the summit as Britain’s first representative.

“The UK’s desire to eliminate world poverty and promote education is also Islamic principles and many Muslim countries are doing a tremendous amount of work on education and poverty. Together we can achieve the step change that the world so desperately needs,” he added.

According to an official press release issued by his ministry during the conference, Mr Malik would discuss a range of issues including how to get all children into school and the positive impact that could have on promoting peace, democracy and international security.

The UK has pledged to spend at least £8.5 billion to support education in poorer countries over 10 years. One hundred fifty million pounds of this would be delivered through the international “Education for All” initiative.

Mr Malik said: “Education is the key to solving many problems in the world and the Prime Minister Gordon Brown is keen to ensure that children everywhere are able to receive good quality education and realise their potential.

The “Education for All” initiative was crucial in achieving this and the UK had pledged to spend £8.5 billion over 10 years supporting education in the poorest countries.”

Currently there were 72 million children around the world who do not go to primary school. It was estimated that an additional £5.5 billion a year by 2010, shared internationally, was needed to get every child into school.

Mr Malik would also urge delegates from the Muslim world to take part in the major UN conference later this year on meeting the global anti-poverty targets.

The conference, to be hosted by the UN Secretary General in September, would discuss the call to action initiative.