Malaysia Urges for ASEAN Poverty Reduction to Single-Digit Rate by 2025

Kuala Lumpur, MINA – Malaysia Friday urged fellow members of ASEAN to step up cooperation to reduce poverty in the region to a single-digit rate by 2025, Bernama reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who made the call, said the rate was 14 per cent last year, down from 31 per cent in 1990.

He said the 10th ASEAN Ministers Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication (AMRDPE), which he opened, should be fully utilised as a platform to share information among the ASEAN countries in developing the best methods to eradicate poverty in the region.

“We hope the ASEAN region, with a population of over 634 million, can be transformed, with urban development extending to the rural areas,” he said to reporters after opening the meeting which was attended by about 80 delegations comprising ministers and deputy ministers in charge of rural development.

Also present were Malaysian Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was elected chairman of AMRDPE for the 2017-2019 term, and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)