India calls for increased South-South cooperation in population policy and development

India today reiterated its commitment to the promotion of South-South cooperation and strengthening of partnership in population policy and development.

Addressing the 17th executive committee meeting of the Partners in Population and Development (PPD), minister of health and family welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad called upon member countries to increase their annual contribution and provide long-term fellowships and work towards institutionalisation of South-South mechanism in various areas.

Azad was presiding over the meeting of the executive committee of PPD in New Delhi today. Vice chairman of PPD and health minister of China, Li Bin and health minister of Bangladesh Ruhal Haque also participated in the meeting.

Partners in Population and Development is an intergovernmental initiative created specifically for the purpose of expanding and improving South-to-South collaboration in the fields of reproductive health, population and development.

PPD was launched at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), when ten developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America formed an intergovernmental alliance to help implement the Cairo Programme of Action (POA).

This POA, endorsed by 179 nations, stresses the need to establish mechanisms to promote development through the sharing of experiences in reproductive health and family planning within and among countries and to promote effective partnerships among the governments, non-governmental organsations (NGOs), research institutions and the private sector.

PPD has its secretariat in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The 2010 annual meeting of PPD was held at Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The 2011 annual meeting of PPD will be held in South Africa in November 2011.