Queen Rania is in Oslo this week for the a UNICEF summit on education for young girls in the world. She was greeted by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon. 
By kissing her hand, Haakon displayed the friendship and respect he has for the Queen of Jordan. She and her husband, King Abdullah, have had close ties with the Norwegian royal family ever since their state visit in 2000. Both royal families have quite a few causes in common, and one of them is education.
Queen Rania often campaigns for education issues on behalf of the United Nations. The Crown Prince was in Mongolia recently where he saw firsthand how education is being handled in the country.
Queen Rania met with the Norwegian King and Queen, and Crown Prince Haakon to the official lunch at the Palace in the days before they met again at the meeting “Eight High Level Group meeting: Education for all” under the auspices of UNICEF held at Oslo City Hall.
“Queen Rania calls herself a working queen – and has made it her life mission to improve women and children living in their own country and in the rest of the world. She is particularly concerned to give young girls education – and have engaged themselves in their own school projects in Jordan, “said court reporter in the See and Hear, Kjell Arne Totland to Norway’s Side2 newspaper.
During the two-day meeting, the state leaders, aid ministers, education ministers and leaders of international organizations discussed the global community’s collective efforts in achieving the UN Millennium goal on education for all children by 2015.
“The economic crisis in the world must not prevent us from focusing on education for all children. Education is key to combating poverty, “said Queen Rania.
“There are always girls who drop out from education first. That is why it is so important to make an effort for them. When the girls take education, we see that their health is better, they have increased confidence and have fewer children, “the Queen continued.
Since 2000, 40 million more children received education in the world, but there’s still 75 million children who receive no basic education.
“To achieve the goal of education for all, they need more capital and 18 million more teachers in the world. Only in Africa, there is a need for 4 million additional teachers, “said Nicholas Burnett, Deputy Director of Education in UNESCO.
The Norwegian aid to education was around 10 percent of the total aid in 2007. Norway supports basic education programs in, among other places, Zambia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Madagascar, as well as educational programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a relative of King Abdullah, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, considered to be “Arabian Warren Buffet” by Time magazine, is seeing his wealth dwindle. Not by much, it shows that even the very wealthy are being hit by the credit crunch.
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