Poverty and education must remain on Asia's agenda even as it forges ahead with high economic growth and focuses on tackling climate change, delegates to a regional economic forum heard Monday.
While Asia is on a much stronger footing than it was during the economic crisis of a decade ago, officials here must remember that poverty remains a massive problem, Malaysia's Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yackop said.
"We should also not forget that Asia today is a continent of stark contrast," he said in closing remarks to the two-day World Economic Forum on East Asia, attended by about 300 political and business leaders.
"We are home to the very rich, but we are also host to the very poor," he said. "We possess cutting edge technologies, but we also have very traditional and backward ways. We must, no doubt, raise the development bar but we must also close the development gap within our countries as well as between our countries."
Delegates to the meeting pointed out that despite rapid economic growth in China and India, much of the wealth created remained concentrated in urban areas, with the rural poor yet to reap any benefits.
Former Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong alluded to potential social problems that may arise from the region's high-flying economic growth, citing China as an example.
"Will there be leaders in China who can manage the social stresses, the political pressure that will come in China as China grows in the next 20-30 years?" Goh said. "If China's leaders are unable to do so, then something may happen to China, politically and socially," he said, stressing the importance of "pragmatic" and "courageous" leadership to shepherd the region into the future.
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