Experts home and abroad begin to discuss questions concerning Official Development Assistance (ODA) for population and development in east China on Wednesday.

More than 200 experts from 30-odd countries gathered Wednesday in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu province to attend the three-day International Symposium on ODA for Population and Development.

The symposium aims to review the progress made and challenges encountered in ODA for population and development since the 1994 International Congress on Population Development (ICPD) and the 2000 UN Millennium Summit and to share experience of both developed and developing countries in fulfilling their commitments to and implementing programs of ODA, said Zhang Weiqing, minister in charge of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), one of the sponsors of the symposium.

The ICPD's Action Plan issued in 1994 pointed out that the total amount of ODA should account for 7 percent of a country's GDP. However, an official from UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said many developed countries did not meet the 7 percent commitment.

According to Zhang, the symposium implements the consensus of the 2005 World Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN and discuss future strategies for promoting ODA for population and development.

Sponsored by the NPFPC, the UNFPA, Partners in Population and Development and International Planned Parenthood Federation, the symposium will comprise keynote speeches, discussions and China case studies.

Various International organizations, NGOs, donor agencies, policy makers and senior program managers responsible for population and public health attended the symposium.

Source: Xinhua