Now is the time to make the goals of Beijing and Cairo a reality. I would like the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) for providing us with an opportunity here to reflect on these emerging issues and to chart an effective course of action. Parliamentarians from this region have long been in the vanguard of efforts to address the population and development challenge. Your long tradition of involvement with these issues makes your contribution to the Beijing and Cairo process invaluable.

Over the next two days, you will have the opportunity to further this process through your discussion of the Manila Proposal on Gender and Development. Many of you have participated in the International Capital Meeting of Parliamentarians on Gender, Population and Development in Tokyo last August. The Meeting adopted the Tokyo declaration which was widely publicized in the media and made a significant contribution to the discussions at, and the success of, the Women's Conference.

The Beijing plan for Action, reiterated and reinforced many of the goals of the ICPD. As you know, the quantitative goals of the ICPD' Programmed of Action are designed to eliminate the most prominent obstacles to women's advancement by the year 2025. It requires countries to achieve universal access to primary education with special emphasis on the education of girl children. The Programme of Action also sets targets for the reduction of maternal, infant and child mortality, And finally, the documents demand that a broad range of quality reproductive health care and family planning services is made available to all members of society.

In many countries, policies have been adjusted and programmes initiated to achieve these goals. UNFPA, as well, has revised its substantive and procedural guidelines in follow-up to the ICPD, the Social Summit and the Women's Conference. And the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force chaired by the Executive Director of UNFPA, Dr. Nafis Sadik, has already distributed very specific instructions to all United Nations Field Offices on the operational implications of the Programmed of Action,

The progress we make in the implementation of these goals will determine the future of humanity. In dealing with such challenges, the ICPD Programme of Action argues that investments into individual well-being and productivity are the most effective strategy to achieve sustained economic growth and sustainable development including food security. In Cairo and Beijing, the international community acknowledge the eliminating gender disparities and investing in people, their health and education, is the real basis for development .

The Asian Population and Development Association and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development under the leadership of Hon. Shin Sakurai have been working hard to realize this holistic, human-oriented vision of development. I would like to pay special tribute to the determined efforts of the Asian Forum's Standing Committee on Women under the excellent leadership of Senator Shahan i and her distinguished colleagues especially Congresswoman Aquino-Oreta. With your help, the international community will continue to advance towards a world of full equality between men and women and the opportunity for all people to realize their aspirations.