Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir addressed the Munich Security Conference Feb. 12. on social and economic development in Saudi Arabia, fighting Daesh, the Syrian revolution, the crisis in Yemen and more.

 “Life expectancy rates doubled in one generation, from 37 years to over 70. Infant mortality rates dropped from the level of the least developed countries in the world to the level of European countries in one generation. And the education went from 95 percent illiteracy to 100 percent literacy in one generation. I don’t believe that there are many countries in the world that were able to do this,” said Minister Al-Jubeir. “Women’s education, which was nonexistent in 1960, today 55 percent of college students in my country are women.”

On Daesh, the foreign minister stated: “Daesh is a terrorist organization composed of psychopaths who have no religion and no morals. They attract other psychopaths and it’s a cult. And it will be defeated. But in order to defeat Daesh, we have to deal with what I call the two elephants in the room. One of those elephants is Bashar al Assad. We cannot defeat Daesh in Syria unless we bring about change in Bashar al Assad.” He continued, “The second elephant in the room is implementing the reforms that were agreed to in Iraq in 2014 that would bring the Sunni community into the fold that would create an equitable system between Sunni, Kurd, Shia, and Caledonians – all Iraqis.”

 Minister Al-Jubeir’s full remarks can be watched here.