Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates and Observers Ladies and Gentlemen 1. We are honoured by your presence. We have made great strides in improving the standard of living of our people through expanding educational opportunities and raising the quality of education.
Education has a clear direct impact on the economic development of a country.
It can also give our young people not only their roots to anchor them securely to their cultural heritage, but also wings to fly as high as their abilities can take them. We live in a region with a rich and diverse cultural and historical heritage. We share many values in common, like the importance of the family, respect for elders, thrift, and hard work. But we must not let values and history tie us down, or constrain growth and new ideas. Instead, they should provide the ballast for our people to hold steady in a sea of information explosion and rapid technological change.