ASIA NEEDS ECONOMIC & SOCIAL SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION TO END POVERTY BY 2015 - ESCAP

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- Asia needs a transformation of its current
economic and social system to eradicate poverty by 2015, said the executive
secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP), Dr
Noeleen Heyzer.

She said that though Asia's economic growth was impressive, with jobs created
having lifted 500 million people out of poverty since 1990, the growth was
uneven, especially in the least developed and small island states.

"The task is far from complete. Asia is home to about a billion of the world's
absolute poor. Hunger is a daily threat to one out of five while 480 million do
not have access to water, 900 million live without electricity and one third of
the residents of Asia's crowded cities live in precarious slums and squatter
developments.

"Just to meet the basic needs of present and future generations - to prevent
millions from sliding backwards - Asia will have to count on a phenomenal rate
of economic growth unknown in the rest of the world," she said in a statement to
Bernama Tuesday.

Dr Heyzer said Asia needed to focus on the quality of economic and social
development and on sustainable use of natural resources rather than rely on the
quantity of economic growth alone.

"Rather than solely relying on cheap labour and ecologically costly
export-driven economic model of the present, Asia can start a new regional
interlocked economy of the future, based on greater eco-efficiency and social
equity," she said.

She said that 10 years ago, under the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals (MDG), the world's leaders offered such transformation at a global level -
a chance for Asia to share the benefits of economic growth with all citizens.

While progress has been seen over the 10 years, with some countries moving
faster than others, Asia especially had a long way to go, she said.

"To make good on the promise of the world's leaders will require new solutions
and a new urgency, for a number reasons they need to bring women to the economic
table because women's economic power and market role is essential in producing a
smart economic model for Asia to generate wealth.

"Asian leaders also have to take advantage of Asia's poor by closing the
development gap because one billion people living below the poverty line can
become the consumers of tomorrow in a vast Asian regional market and economy.

"They also need to invest in social programmes because Asia's new workers and
new middle class still need affordable healthcare, schools, pensions and
environmental sustainability because these are not optional but an urgent
necessity," she said.

Dr Heyzer said that today, Asia's leaders had an unrivalled opportunity to meet
that goal by relying on the region's people and resources to create new
sustainable and inclusive sources of wealth and development.

"The final MDG story is yet to be told. All countries have five years to seek
the most promising path. Asia can tilt the balance to success," she said.
-- BERNAMA