Boost skills of populace: Soeharto

Boost skills of populace: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Developing countries can improve their social,
political and economic life only if they strive to strengthen the
skills of its population, President Soeharto said.

Opening an international conference on human resource
development at the State Palace last night, Soeharto appealed to
the industrialized countries to lend a helping hand because
developing countries cannot achieve these goals alone.

Soeharto told the participants from some 40 countries that the
small quantity and poor quality of human resources were the most
challenging problems facing both developing and industrialized
countries.

"The size of our population is great," he said. "Their level
of education and training, however, is low. They have yet to
master modern science and technology, which they will need to
survive the current trend of economic globalization."

"Without educated and productive workers, it is difficult for
a country to improve the welfare of its people. This, in turn,
hampers a country's efforts to achieve a democratic, social and
political life. On the other hand," he added, "without economic
growth, it is difficult for a nation to improve the quality of
its human resources."

Organizer

The three-day international conference on human resource
development is organized by the Center for Information and
Development Studies (CIDES), a think-tank of the influential
Association of the Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI). State
Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie chairs both
organizations.

The conference will feature prominent speakers, including
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Iranian
parliamentarian Dr. Javad Larijani, and Dr. Rudiger Matchetzki of
the Institut fur Asiankunde, Germany.

Attended by government officials, academics, non-governmental
organization activists and representatives of international
business organizations, the conference will focus on three major
subjects: the social-political system and development, the
development of social and economic infrastructures, and the
poverty alleviation within the framework of a self-propelling
growth scheme.

Soeharto said in his speech that some of the benefits to be
reaped by developing countries in improving relations with the
industrialized nations is an opportunity to absorb its advanced
science and technology, as well as the chance to take advantage
of market opportunity.

"We all hope that the South-South cooperation and North-South
cooperation can be intensified and widened so they become a
truly global effort," said the chairman of the Non-Aligned
Movement.

Critical

Soeharto pointed out that, until today, only a handful of
developing countries had been able to overcome critical
situations in their economic development.

Reduced flow of foreign aid to developing countries has
further hampered the developing nations' efforts to solve their
fundamental economic problems, such as debt payment.

He said he hoped the conference would contribute to the
international effort to alleviate poverty in various parts of the
globe.

"(The cooperation) hopefully will be established not only at a
government level, but also by the public as well," he said. "In
order to achieve the goals we need a more just and proportional
economic cooperation from both sides, which is supported by
international institutions."

He said that in the absence of such conditions, the imbalanced
relations between countries would continue and ultimately harm
every party concerned.

Soeharto also placed great hope in international institutions
to help reduce gaps in income and economic development between
developing and industrialized countries. "We hope that
imbalances, whether overt or covert, will change into just
relations of both sides," he added. (swe)