Indonesia to host wold development seminar
Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Indonesia will host the Asia-Pacific ministerial meeting on the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the Jakarta Convention Center from Aug. 3 to Aug. 5.
Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, foreign ministry's secretary general, said that participants of the meeting, which is the first to be held in conjunction with the Millennium project, would discuss strategies for the region to accomplish the MDGs.
"The strategies will be endorsed in a declaration, to be called Jakarta Declaration. This declaration will be brought for discussion in the high-level plenary meeting, at the 60th UN General Assembly Summit in September," he told a joint media briefing with Erna Witoelar, the UN Special Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia-Pacific, here on Friday.
Indonesia, he said, has proposed an Asia-Pacific cooperation strategy called "Regional Compact" that involves the wealthy nations of the region such as Japan.
The plenary meeting at the UN Summit will review the progress of the MDGs, declared in the Millennium Summit in 2000. The MDGs targets poverty eradication and living standards improvement, all to be completed by 2015.
Erna expressed hope that the Asia-Pacific countries' initiative would encourage UN members to put more effort into development issues.
"At present, the world's attention is concentrated on Africa. But the Asia-Pacific has more important issues to resolve, as the poor people in this region outnumber those in Africa," said the former minister of resettlement and regional infrastructure.
She said that 741 million (57 percent) of 1.3 billion poor people around the world resided in Asia-Pacific region, which added to the complexity of the MDGs.
Earlier this month, the Group of Eight wealthy nations agreed to wipe out US$41 billion of debt in 18 impoverished countries in Africa, and to increase the aid twofold to $50 billion a year by 2010.
Erna said that the Asia-Pacific should work out a more "elegant" way to lift themselves out of poverty. While the Indonesian government would not beg for debt relief because it would disadvantage the country, it should find other ways to finance its development aside from debt, she said.
"They could ask for more trade access or cooperation in the real issues of the region, such as health or environment."
"And though the amount of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) from developed countries will increase according to their pledges to the Millennium declaration, I think Indonesia would not need much of it. We have enough money to pay for our children's school fees, to prevent mothers from dying after giving birth and poverty alleviation. At the end of the day, it is corruption that has hindered this country in achieving the Millennium Development Goals," she said.
Ministers and high ranking officials from 53 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as representatives of UN special agencies (such as UNDP, UN-DESA, UN-ESCAP and UNCTAD), vice presidents of the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, had confirmed their participation in the meeting, Sudjadnan said.
Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, UN Millennium Project's director and special advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on MDGs, will speak at the Jakarta's meeting. Other speakers will be Indonesia's Minister of Trade Marie Elka Pangestu, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, Minister of National Development Planning and chairperson of the National Planning Agency Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Erna Witoelar President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to open the meeting.
There will be an exhibition on poverty eradication and other MDGs achievements on the sidelines of the meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center.