China on Monday called on the member states of the Association
of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with South Korea and
Japan to hold regular ministerial meetings to discuss poverty
reduction.
The proposal was issued at the Second ASEAN plus Three
High-level Workshop on Poverty Reduction held in Beijing
Monday.
The meeting reviewed and assessed the ongoing poverty reduction
efforts of the region, and discussed how to improve their efforts
and effectiveness.
There are about 700 million people living on less than a dollar
a day in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for two-thirds of the
world's people living in poverty. The number of the poor in some of
the most underdeveloped countries including Cambodia and Laos
accounts for 30 percent of the total population.
The proposal said the establishment of the ministerial meetings
will foster regional cooperation on poverty reduction.
The ministerial meeting will focus on sharing experiences in the
formulation and implementation of poverty reduction policies,
assessing the effectiveness and problems of regional cooperation,
analyzing the main challenges confronting each country and jointly
designing plans of action with specific steps, the proposal
said.
The proposal also suggests setting up a regional poverty
reduction forum, conducting closer inter-governmental and program
cooperation, strengthening personnel training and enhancing
exchanges on poverty reduction.
China will invite 1,000 poverty reduction officials from the
ASEAN countries to participate in training or exchange activities
in China over the next five years, according to the proposal.
The proposal also called on international organizations,
developed countries, non-governmental organizations, the private
sector and social entities to increase their aid for impoverished
regions, especially in countries that have low economic growth
rates, environmental degradation, large rural populations and a
heavy debt load.
Aid should be expanded to include the transfer of labor, city
planning and management, and the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other
communicable diseases, the proposal said.
The meeting was attended by poverty reduction officials from ten
ASEAN member states, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
Vietnam, and China. Officials from South Korea and Japan along with
representatives of international organizations also sent their
observers to the workshop.
Delegates to the meeting will travel to South China's Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province in Southwest China to
investigate in poverty reduction work there.
(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2006)
