The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), recently awarded with the UN Population Award, organised a parliamentary consultation on 30-31 August in Bangkok in collaboration with EPF entitled “Emerging Economies and Population: Reproductive Health Programmes”. 

The meeting gathered approximately 35 parliamentarians from six emerging economies in Asia (including India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand) and two European countries (Spain and Germany). Parliamentarians engaged in fruitful discussions about the necessity of prioritizing and financing each country’s own reproductive health programme and the growing importance of South-South cooperation. Representatives of UN agencies and civil society participated in the conference as well as the director general of the Thai development agency, who offered a valuable overview on the largely unknown work of South-South cooperation. The consultation concluded with the adoption of a parliamentary statement urging governments from emerging economies to increase funding levels for population programmes and to enhance the technological and technical cooperation in health related programmes