Address

by

Dr. Nafis Sadik Executive Directo', UNFPA
Read on her behalf

by

Dr. Hirofumi Ando Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA

Senate President Gonzales

Congresswomen Aquino-Oreta,

Senator Ramos-Shahani, Mr.Maeda, Mr.Sakurai

Excellencies Distinguished Parliamentarians,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a great honor for me to be able to join you today at this 12th Meeting of Asian Par-liamentarians on Population and Development with its special focus on "Women in the 2 1 st Century - A Strategy for Prosperity and Peace". I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Philippine Congress for hosting this event and to His Excellency, President Ramos, for gracing us with his presence.

I would like to pay a special tribute to President Ramos, who has long been in the fore-front of addressing the most crucial challenges the world faces to achieve sustainable, human development and population. Again and again, he had affirmed his commitment to make a difference in people's lives and to ensure that basic human needs are met through education, health care, housing and employment. And he has spoken out courageously for the right of women and men to decide freely and responsively the number and spacing of their children. His leadership has been an inspiration to us all, And, on behalf of the United Nations Population Fund, I would like to reiterate our hope for his continued support and close cooperation.

Distinguished participants,

This meeting comes at an important time, as it is your first gathering after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing last September. The conference provided the international community with a unique forum to place the rights, concerns and progress of women into the center stage of all development efforts. It was an occasion to reaffirm the goals and aspiration of the International Conference on Population Development in Cairo, where the centrality of women, including their reproductive rights and health, first received such unequivocal support.