Chinese representative calls for including population issue in post-2015 agenda

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 -- A Chinese representative on Monday called on the international community to work together to include the issue of population in the post-2015 development agenda.

Li Bin, minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, made the appeal here at a special session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the follow-up to the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

In 1994, 179 governments signed in Cairo the ICPD Program of Action, a landmark agreement that emphasizes that population is not only about counting people, but about making sure every person counts.

To effectively implement the follow-up to the ICPD Program of Action beyond 2014, "we should work together to include the issue of population in the post-2015 development agenda, and provide more support to developing countries," Li told the UNGA.

"We should further review the emerging problems and new challenges in the area of population and development, and study in-depth the relations between population and sustainable development," she said.

The top Chinese family planning official also called on the international community to continue to uphold the goals and principles of the Program of Action, incorporate the issue of population in the overall plan for economic and social development, keep increasing input in reproductive health and family planning, and enable everyone to have access to reproductive health and family planning services.

In her speech, Li stressed that in the view of the Chinese government, "the issue of population is ultimately a development issue."

"Since ICPD, the Chinese government, based on its national conditions, has taken a comprehensive approach in addressing the issues of the quantity, quality, structure and distribution of the population," she said.

"We have implemented a family planning program which has effectively slowed down the excessively fast population growth," she said.

"As a result, economic and social development has been advanced, and people's livelihood has shown remarkable improvement," she added.

The Chinese representative also noted the Chinese government and people will continue to assist the West African countries hit by the Ebola outbreak in their fight against the epidemic.

"The Chinese government will, as always, promote international exchanges and cooperation in the area of population and development, including South-South cooperation, and make further and greater contributions to the building of our common home and the realization of the future we want," she said.