Asian lawmakers to press on with development programs
Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 05/03/2009 8:25 PM
Asian lawmakers gathering in Jakarta over the weekend have agreed to continue and even expand their population and development programs, although the ongoing global financial crisis has made such programs no longer a priority to many countries.
The two-day 25th Asian Parliamentarians' Meeting on Population and Development concluded Sunday with calls on member countries to provide "adequate technical and financial resources" for the success of such programs.
It also calls for "comprehensive cooperation" in addressing global health issues, concerning the "emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases".
Yasuo Fukuda, chairman of the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) – the organizer of the meeting – said in his opening speech the results of the meeting would be brought up as a representation of Asia's voice in the upcoming International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in October.
The ICPD meeting in 1994 produced the Program of Action, which was adopted by acclamation by country participants and set a number of population and development goals, including in family planning, education, gender equality, and child and maternal mortality.
The Cairo consensus is fully aligned and provided much of the groundwork for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"The first way to achieve these targets is to ensure participation by all. We reaffirm that everyone is a stakeholder in tackling global issues such as population and the environment," said Fukuda.
He stressed the importance of stabilizing the population, saying "a rapidly changing population will afflict significant damage on society and impede the achievement of the MDGs and sustainable development".
While some Asian countries are struggling to curb their high birthrates, others like Japan and South Korea are facing the serious possibility of a society with fewer children, Fukuda said.
Other points agreed in the two-day meeting were the need to take vulnerable groups in society (the impoverished, women) into consideration in legislation; to take measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the global economic crisis; and to invest in the world's smallholders to help ensure global food security.
Asian parliamentarians were also urged to increase budgets and consider policies to address population and development problems in their respective countries.
Dozens of parliamentarians from 21 Asian and Pacific countries attended the May 3-4 meeting.
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