Speaker, I just want to respond to and agree with the statement made by the hon member about the importance of education and the commitment of our President and government to decent education for all.
Last week I was part of a government delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco, and in our main message there we, amongst other things, called for the world to support our One Goal campaign during the 2010 World Cup in support of education, we also welcomed Unesco's very important commitment to promoting education as a public common good in which government must play a leading role, working together with other important stakeholders.
I also wish to underline the statement made by the President at the United Nations General Assembly that we must not use the current recession to renege on our social commitments. To that effect, our own government has committed itself that despite the challenges of the recession we want to maintain our commitment to the resources that must be put into education because, in our view, investment in education, as Unesco also says, is not a deduction from development but, instead, a necessary condition for building and developing a more just global economic order. Thank you. [Applause.]