Indonesia offers help on population<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto called on other developing
\ncountries to close ranks with Indonesia and rely more on their
\nown resources in development efforts.<\/p>\n
Addressing the three-day population meeting of 11 developing
\ncountries yesterday, Soeharto offered to share Indonesia's
\nexperience in a number of development efforts, including the
\nmanagement of family planning and population.<\/p>\n
He described the \"Partners in Population and Development: A
\nSouth-South Initiative\" to the participants as an example of how
\nexchange of expertise and success can greatly benefit both the
\ngivers and recipients.<\/p>\n
\"It is our firm conviction that through cooperation there will
\nbe an increasingly greater number of developing countries that
\ncan do a lot of things,\" he told the meeting which included
\nKenyan Vice President Dr. George Saitoti.<\/p>\n
\"It's precisely by subscribing to such principles of
\npartnership that we continue to seriously bolster international
\ncooperation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"However, we are all aware that South-South cooperation alone
\nis not enough,\" he said. \"Hopefully this will be an international
\ncooperation that also involves the advanced industrial countries,
\nbased on mutual respect and sincerity.\"<\/p>\n
Soeharto's speech reiterated Indonesia's stance that the
\ndeveloping countries should rely more on one another, but that
\nthe developed countries should also offer more assistance.<\/p>\n
Soeharto suggested a trilateral cooperation scheme wherein a
\ndonor country finances cooperation between two developing
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
He also spelled out Indonesia's progress in population
\ncontrol, which has enticed more than 2,000 senior participants
\nfrom 75 countries to visit and learn from its family planning
\nmanagement.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has cut infant mortality by almost a third from 145
\nper 1,000 in the 1970s to 55 per 1,000 today, and slowed down its
\nannual population growth rate from 2.5 percent to 1.6 percent,
\nSoeharto said.<\/p>\n
Improvement<\/p>\n
Indonesia, the world's fourth largest nation with a population
\nof around 185 million, has also managed to reduce the average
\nnumber of children in its families from 5.6 in 1970 to around
\n2.8 children at present.<\/p>\n
Soeharto described yesterday how the success of family
\nplanning has allowed the government to shift the focus of its
\nattention to the improvement of the quality of life for families,
\nincluding more educational opportunities for children.<\/p>\n
The meeting is a step toward the International Conference on
\nPopulation Development, to be held next month in Cairo, Egypt.<\/p>\n
The meeting, which is also attended by representatives of a
\nnumber of donor agencies, proceeded to explore ways of
\nstrengthening the existing cooperation and modalities of
\npartnership, as well as funding arrangements.<\/p>\n
Led by State Minister of Population Haryono Suyono, it also
\ndiscussed the plan to establish a secretariat to manage the flow
\nof assistance among the participating countries.<\/p>\n
Sally Shelton of the United States Agency for International
\nDevelopment expressed support for the developing countries'
\ninitiative, which is expected to have wider impacts than the
\n\"traditional\" relations of developed countries in the North and
\ndeveloping countries in the South.<\/p>\n
Such South-South cooperation also tends to be more flexible
\nand adaptable to individual countries' specific needs than the
\ntraditional forms of cooperation, she said.<\/p>\n
Today the participants will discuss a draft statement to be
\npresented in Cairo. Later on in the day they will leave on a
\nfield trip to Bali. (swe)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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