Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President Boediono said the government was intervening in the country`s economic development in order to ensure the equitable distribution of welfare.

"Over at least the next few decades, governmental regulation of the economy to achieve social goals on behalf of the community will remain very important," the vice president said at the World Economic Forum on East Asia (WEF-EA).

Boediono said that Indonesia with extensive area created disparities among regions, and it should be the government`s main attention to build the entire Indonesian society a more equitable manner.

The vice president also asserted that the goal of millennium development in Indonesia at present was on the right track, because the country has been able to reduce the number of poverty to more than 50 percent.

Meanwhile the action to encourage equality of women in Indonesia in the government, community, and at schools was also growing rapidly, the vice president said.

But he also pointed out several shortcomings such as high maternal mortality rate and the rise of AIDS/HIV cases.

He said the high maternal mortality rate occurred in rural areas because of difficult health care access, and therefore the government has to try hard to overcome it.

In addition, the vice president also mentioned the rise in AIDS/HIV cases.

He added that the government would continue to make every effort to overcome the social problems, to reduce social gap, and to improve the people`s welfare as part of its medium-term program.

The vice president was present at the WEF-EA as a speaker on Millennium Development Goal with Managing Director of Asian Development Bank Rajat M Nag, Director of the Earth Institute Jeffrey D Sachs, UN Assistant Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs - Department of Economic and Social Affairs Thomas Stelzer, and Executive Director Gawad Kalinga of the Philippines Tony Meloto.

The two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum from Sunday to Monday was attended by around 600 participants from various countries.
(Uu.O001/HAJM/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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