Mr.Adrianus Mooy, Executive Secretary of ESCAP,
Mr.Kul Gautam,    Regional Director of UNICEF
East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office,
Mrs.Ruth Kagia,     Director of Strategy and Operations, World Bank,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen,

    It is a great pleasure for me to attend the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Education for All 2000 Assessment.

    First of all, I wish to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to all the distinguished delegates. I hope that your stay here will be both a productive and memorable one.
   
    Ten years ago, Ladies and Gentlemen, the international community gathered in Jomtien, Thailand, and adopted the World Declaration on Education for All and the Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs.

    In essence, the noble goal embraced was the need to provide every man, woman and child with access to basic education - education that can serve as a foundation not only for lifelong learning and human development, but also for the improvement of their quality of lives.

    This objective is as relevant today as it was then, if not even more so. Given our increasingly globalized and competitive world and the challenges we now face, we have no choice but to better train and prepare our peoples for the future, so that they can live up to their full potential and contribute more meaningfully to the societies in which they live.   

    I am therefore pleased to note the progress in the field of education that has been made around the world. There are today more children enrolled in schools than ever before.


    According to the latest statistics available, the number of students enrolled in primary education has increased from 567 million in 1985 to 650 million in 1995.

    The estimated number of adult literates has also increased by over 700 million during the past decade .
   
    We in Thailand have also been working hard to provide our children and youth with greater educational opportunities and to eradicate illiteracy.

    As a consequence, student enrolment at all levels of education has increased from less than 12 million or around 55 percent of the school-age population in 1990 to over 14 million or 74 percent last year .

Ladies and Gentlemen,

    Despite these achievements, much more remains to be done. Though an increased number of children around the world now have access to primary education, the estimated number of out-of-school youth has actually increased and is estimated to reach 476 million by the year 2010, compared with 429 million in 1995. The estimated number of adult illiterates also remains daunting at over 880 million today.

    Though these figures have increased partly due to a rising world population, we are still a long way away from our goal of providing education for all and of eradicating illiteracy.

    In Thailand, our endeavours to provide education for all have also not been without its problems. The quantitative progress achieved has increased pressure upon educational management and administration, the physical infrastructure of education, and the availability of instructional materials - all of which have affected educational standards.

    The provision of educational opportunities to cover all targeted groups, particularly those disadvantaged, also has to be effectively addressed.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

    Due to the importance of our human resources, which is our country's most valuable asset, my Government has been working hard to address the above issues as well as to continue to develop and reform our education system.

    These endeavours have culminated in the National Education Act, which was passed last year.

    In accordance with our new Constitution adopted in 1997, this Act stipulates that every Thai citizen will be provided with equal rights and opportunities to receive at least 12 years of basic education.

    In addition, this new law will help modernize our teaching learning process, improve upon educational administration and management, mobilize resources for education from both the public and private sectors, as well as engage all sectors of society in a partnership to further develop our education system.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

    While it is primarily the duty of each individual country to provide education for its own citizens, endeavours at the regional and global levels are also necessary.
   
    Indeed, as education is internationally recognized as a fundamental human right, the provision of basic learning needs. Constitutes a common and universal human responsibility.

    In this connection, the exchange of information and experience, the pooling of expertise, the sharing of facilities, as well as the joint undertaking of activities will all help contribute towards our goal.

    At the same time, more assistance, both financial and technical, will help developing countries, particularly those least developed, to strengthen their national capacities.

    I therefore hope that through your discussions over the next four days, you will be able to come up with more innovative and effective means to promote education. Your deliberations will also serve as valuable inputs to the World Education Forum, which is to be convened later this year in Senegal to adopt a stronger and more action-oriented approach to the goal of universal basic education.

    Only with universal basic education, will we be able to reduce the gap among all countries - rich and poor, developed and developing.

    And only thus will we be able to unleash the inherent potential of all our peoples for the mutual benefit and prosperity of the world as a whole in the 21st century.

    On this note, I take great pleasure in declaring open the Asia-Pacific conference on Education for All 2000 Assessment. Once again, I wish you every success in your deliberations as well as a pleasant stay in Thailand.

    Thank you.