"The struggle for education is the mother of all battles. Together, let us mobilize for our children. Our will is to support the Global Partnership for Education’s actions to help millions of children to go to school."

"All citizens in countries in trouble should see the direct outcomes of the commitments made here. Where we see the risk of obscurantism there is only one response: education."

"No single country or organization can tackle the challenges of demographics, conflict, unequal access to education, radicalization or climate change. Partnership is the only way."

"Let's make 2018 the year of education. Let's start with the full replenishment of GPE as the first down payment on our children's future."

"The theme of this conference calls on all of us to work toward providing children a quality education. It is a prerequisite for the future of mankind."

"I want to take this opportunity to praise the Global Partnership for Education for its focus on gender equality. Canada is proud to support the Global Partnership for Education in its efforts."

"The political, economic, and societal benefits of education justify its central role in our priorities. Our ambition in education and instruction is very well-defined but we are faced with the issue of financing."

"From Cambodia to Côte d’Ivoire, from Ethiopia to Yemen, GPE provides training, advice, infrastructure, and above all, hope."

"Ireland places great importance on education as a catalyst for development. Ireland will more than double its contribution to the Global Partnership for Education. Our pledge is a statement of our confidence in GPE and its work in delivering quality education for those children most in need."

"What is at stake today is the survival of mankind. Education should be available for all children and they should receive a quality education."

"We cannot depend on other people to finance the education of our continent."

"We can stand back and watch as countries fall into fragility, conflict, extremism because of the unrest and unhappiness of young people. Or we can move at an unprecedented scale, with GPE in the lead, and ensure that every child everywhere can become whatever she dreams."

"The bedrock of society is a woman. We need to implement a system that ensures girls get an education. They need to be empowered in power structures."

"The lack of quality education is the greatest threat to my generation, if we do not act now it will only get worse."

"We need both the international community and governments to step up. A boost in funding for GPE will give a huge boost to education systems the world over. If this is combined with increased investments from governments, the effects could be extraordinary."

"We are plagued by lack of education, terrorism, poverty and obscurantism, but the only way to combat these plagues is to ensure education for even the most marginalized children."

"Participation of young people is key in fulfilling the right of education for all, and must be taken seriously."

"Education is one of the most effective ways to fight terrorism and radicalization. We come to this Partnership, not only with our financial resources, but more importantly with our resolve to deal with this challenge."

"Italy is strongly convinced that education is a real sustainable development multiplier for every society and every sector. Italy is more than ever committed to do its part, GPE is a qualitatively important part of our strategy and investment."

"Global effort is needed to harness the full potential of education. In this spirit, we welcome the GPE-led initiative to mobilize and channel resources to address the education challenge."

"We will look back on this meeting as a turning point. It will be remembered as the time so many leaders came together and invested their political capital in ensuring quality education is properly financed and universally delivered."

"We need to match the investment of political and verbal capital with financial capital. Take a pause from the fires you are putting out today, to prevent one tomorrow."

"If we reach children with the education and the skills that they need, we will make progress toward not only all of the SDGs but a better, fairer, more prosperous, and more peaceful world for all."   

"Data is an essential step towards achieving SDG4, the availability of up-to-date and quality education data is vital for supporting evidence based policy formulation and decision making."

"Remember, when you go back to your home countries to make decisions that will impact the lives of millions of girls around the world, their future depends on education, and their education depends on you."

"With GPE support, we have been able to expand access to education for 300,000 children and improve learning outcomes in primary schools. It is our commitment that will allow us to reach the goal of universal quality education by 2030."

"There can be no economic, social, or political development without the development of knowledge."

"Where there is education, there is hope. Every child has a right to education, every child has a right to hope. The Global Partnership for Education plays an absolutely indispensable part in delivering education and delivering hope."

"Education is the public policy challenge of our time. As the only global fund that is exclusively focused on this challenge, GPE is now better-placed to make a difference and, together, working in partnership, I know that we can."

"We would like to emphasize our unequivocal support for GPE's established goal of mobilizing US$2 billion per year by 2020, which will leverage not only implementation of SDG 4 but also the full implementation of the SDG agenda."

"GPE has made considerable progress in achieving its goals and fullfilling its mandate, and made good efforts in adhering to principles of local ownership, full alignment to national education plans, as well as partnership coordination and harmonization."

"The government of Norway will continue to increase its contribution to GPE... Norway is committed to ramp up support to countries wanting to broaden and deepen their tax base in a fair, predictable and sustainable manner."

"We are dealing right now with the largest displacement crisis in history. We have to ensure that SDG 4 is fully implemented."

"Unless we achieve breakthroughs in education, we will not achieve the rest of the sustainable development goals... Now is the chance for us to truly step up."

"We believe in the Global Partnership for Education, which is why the UK has made the largest overall contribution to it for the last 15 years….Unless every child can reach their full potential, humanity never will."

"Through our partnership with technology companies, we are going to provide access to more data. [The business community's] work in accessing data to promote greater access to education is absolutely key."