Mayors Meet to Discuss PovertyMayors and officials from 60 major Asian cities are teaming up to find ways to reduce urban poverty more efficiently in the region.They gathered Monday for a four-day conference, billed as the Asian Mayors' Forum. Delegates from 17 nations are also discussing topics ranging from improved employment, housing distribution and environmental concerns. Prior to the move, the forum, organized by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) Institute, had two annual gatherings in the Philippines and Sri Lanka in 1998 and 1999. "A highly efficient system of poverty reduction would not only play a key role to improve the grassroots' life, but also help to secure a stable economic and social development," said Chen Liangyu, executive vice-mayor of Shanghai. Chen pledged that the city will create another 300,000 job opportunities for laid-off workers over the next three years. Sources with the local Labour and Social Security Bureau said that there are still 47,000 laid-off workers waiting for employment after the city has helped more than 780,000 of them find new jobs since 1996. But the city and the country could face more severe challenges as the nation strengthens its drive towards economic reform and business structure reshuffling, which would likely lead to millions of jobless and laid-off workers to flood the labour market. "As a concrete step to help the urban poor, China should continue efforts to help those laid-off employees," said Lou Jiwei, executive vice-minister of Finance. Masaru Yoshitomi, dean of the ADB Institute, suggested that sustainable and good economic growth was the major way to solve urban poverty problems. |
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