The meeting was attended by Chairperson Benazir Income Support Program Farzana Raja, Secretary General to the President M. Salman Faruqui, Dr. Asim Hussain, Pakistan's Ambassador to Washington Sherry Rehman, Ambassador Masood Khan and other officials.
Later, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Social Sector, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Advisor to Prime Minister on Human Rights and other senior officials also joined the meeting during its extended session.
Matters related to promotion of education in Pakistan, the UN Secretary General's initiative to promote education, various steps being taken by the Government of Pakistan to promote education, UK's assistance in the education sector and the future course of action in the education sector came under discussion during the meeting.
Gordon Brown briefed the President about the objectives of UN initiative "Education First" that aims at helping the countries promote education in the context of Accelerated Millennium Development Goals (AMDGs).
In this regard he informed the President about his forthcoming visit to Pakistan along with a delegation comprising academics, information technology experts and representative of international business houses and NGOs.
He said that his mission aims at ensuring greater enrollment, provision of quality education, training of the teachers and promotion of education technology in Pakistan.
The President while welcoming his visit to Pakistan expressed the hope that his visit would help in further cementing cooperation of the country with the international community in the education sector.
President Zardari said that the importance and the need for education have been increased and it holds the key to socio-economic development of the people by extricating them from the shackles of poverty.
He said that education was the most effective tool to fight militant mindset and to lead the nation on the path to socio-economic development and upward mobility.
In this context, President Zardari also appreciated UK's assistance in the education sector saying that Pakistan greatly values generous development assistance by the Government of UK especially in the education and health sectors in Pakistan.
The President said that pounds 650 million British assistance for the promotion of primary education would go a long way in addressing the challenges of extremism and militancy and creating a conducive environment to facilitate education in Pakistan.
He appreciated the contribution of Department for International Development in the education sector especially for undertaking various educational projects in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwah and Sindh.
The President also recounted various steps taken by the Government for the promotion of education. He said that the flagship program of the democratic government was also focusing on the education sector and plans to launch "Waseela-e-Taleem" program under its umbrella for the promotion of primary education. He said that under this program BISP would be providing cash transfers while families will agree to send and retain their children in primary schools.
The President said that Pakistan was committed to Universal Primary Education as part of its commitment to the MDGs.
Gordon Brown assured the President that as UN Special Envoy for Global Education, he would continue his efforts assisting the Government in promotion of education among the masses especially in the far-flung areas of the country.