Women parliamentarians of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday gathered in the Lao capital to discuss poverty reduction, reproductive health and child survival.

"Poverty is of great concern of nations in the region and the world ... Parliamentarians have an important role in poverty eradication and issues regarding women and children," Samane Vignaket, president of the Lao National Assembly, said when addressing the one-day meeting.

Women policymakers from eight members of the ASEAN, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, attended the meeting ahead the 26th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO). Two other members, Brunei and Myanmar, are accredited as AIPO's special observers since they have no legislatures.

"Two-thirds of the world's poor live in the Asia-Pacific region," the president said, noting that the Women Parliamentarians of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (WAIPO) meeting will discuss three topics, namely enhancement of parliamentarians'roles in poverty eradication, parliamentarians in advocacy for reproductive health and child survival, and the Beijing plus 10 Platform for Action toward achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs).

The MDGs were adopted by world leaders at the Millennium Summit organized in the UN headquarters in 2000, which set time-bound targets in different fields, including gender equality, to be reached by 2015. The Beijing + 10 Conference was held in the United Nations General Assembly early this year to review and appraise the Beijing Platform for Action adopted in Beijing in 1995.

The WAIPO meeting will adopt three resolutions regarding the three topics. The 26th AIPO General Assembly will kick off in Laos'capital Vientiane on Monday, focusing major discussions on regional political, economic and social issues.

WAIPO was set up in 1998 when women policymakers held their first meeting ahead of the 19th AIPO General Assembly in Malaysia.AIPO was initiated by the Indonesian House of Representatives in 1974, and officially set up three years later by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The organization embraced Laos in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999.

Source: Xinhua