[Indonesia] ...urges world not to ignore Asian poverty

From Reuters AlertNet

By Tomi Soetjipto

JAKARTA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday called on the world to remember that the Asia-Pacific region, with some of the world's fastest growing economies, was also home to most of its poor.

Speaking at the start of an international conference on development, Yudhoyono urged rich nations to meet a United Nations goal of setting aside 0.7 percent of their Gross Domestic Product for development assistance.

"In our region, there are some 700 million people, or nearly two-thirds of the world's poorest people, who live on less than $1 per day," Yudhoyono told ministers and officials from some 40 countries in Asia and the Pacific.

"We may find it ironic that while our region is gaining a reputation for economic dynamism, at the same time it is still home to the majority of the world's poor."

China has been growing at nine percent per year and India joins the Group of Eight summit of rich nations for the first time this year. Even Indonesia, once an economic laggard in the region, has bounced back after years in the doldrums.

China, India and Indonesia are also three of the world's four most populous countries.

"Most Asia-Pacific countries are on track, but the Asia-Pacific is the most populated region in the world. Looking at the numbers, the Asia-Pacific has the largest poverty problem," Indonesian Planning Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.

Officials at the meeting said the world had been focused on poverty in Africa, neglecting the Asia-Pacific.

Leaders of industrialised countries under the G8 group last month agreed in Scotland to double aid for Africa to $50 billion in a bid to end chronic poverty there.

In his speech opening the meeting, Yudhoyono reminded delegates of the region's pledges under the Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty by 2015, using the global definition of of earning less dollar a day.