BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services)--People in the region are waiting for their governments and partners to bring forth the fruits of social development so that people can enjoy them in their lifetime, says the head of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Mr. Adrianus Mooy.

He said governments in the Asia-Pacific region have committed themselves to eradicate poverty, create employment opportunities and strengthen social integration in their societies for the benefit of their people. While progress has been made in fulfilling these commitments, he added, these accomplishments have unfortunately fallen far short of targets.

"Today poverty in the region remains profound and endemic. Millions of people are still mired in poverty, with little access to health, education, and other basic social services. Unemployment remains critical. The goals of social integration stand mostly unachieved."

Mr. Mooy was delivering the opening statement at a five-day Meeting (1-5 November 1999) of Senior Officials on the Agenda for Action on Social Development in the Asia-Pacific Region organized by the ESCAP's Social Development at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

The meeting will outline a regional perspective on social development and recommend courses of action that governments and international organizations can carry out to accelerate progress and overcome constraints in social development.

The results of the session will be presented to the UN General Assembly at its special session in 2000 when it follows up on the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995.

"The ageing of the population, economic liberalization and globalization and human rights - these changes all have the capacity to affect social development prospects adversely unless addressed appropriately at the policy and programme levels. We must incorporate responses to these challenges in our social development Agenda."

The Deputy Director-General of the Department of Public Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Thailand, Mr. Sakhon Boonkhum, told delegates it was very important for countries in the region to take stock of social development following the 1995 Copenhagen Summit.

"It is time to assess our goals, share our experience and lessons, correct our mistakes, adjust our strategy and equip ourselves with practical initiatives."

According to Mr. Sakhon, lessons learnt from the recent economic crisis in Asia have created a new awareness about the region's social agenda. He suggested delegates consider five points as priority areas in their discussion of social development: analysis of the social dimension of globalization; simultaneous pursuit of social and economic development; the quality of human resources as a key factor to successful national development; partnership among national, international and private sectors groups to avoid duplication of effort; and resource mobilization in an era of declining development assistance

The five-day agenda includes policy planning and legal institutional arrangements; governance; resource mobilization; and social development goals and targets.

Ministers and senior Government officials from Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as representatives from other United Nations bodies and specialized agencies and representatives from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are participating.