Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Social Affairs Minister Salim
Segaf Al Jufri offered his Chinese counterpart Li Xueju to set up a Joint Working Group relating to social welfare.

This was stated by media relations and administration management expert of the social affairs ministry Sapto Waluyo by an SMS from Beijing on Wednesday morning when visiting the social affairs ministry office in Beijing.

"I also invited the Minister of Civil Affairs to visit Indonesia. Cooperation between the two countries would be firmer following the formation of a working group," Minister Salim
said when accompanying the Indonesian ambassador for PRC Imron Cottan.

He said the cooperation in the form of a working group may cover efforts of poverty eradication, services for senior citizens and invalids, and disaster handling.

Minister Li Xueju welcomed Minister Salim`s offer as Indonesia is one of the priority countries of his visits, including those by the PRC President and Prime Minister.

"We have fought to lower the poverty rate, leaving 150 million poor people of the total population of 1.3 billion (1.15 percent), but we are still facing a similar problem as the result of urbanization, an imbalance between urban and rural areas," Li Xuejo said.

Salim then referred to a UNDP report on human development in 2005 that China managed to raise its population of 250 million from the poverty line in the last 25 years, during which food aid worth 1 billion dollars had been given to the poor, and 180 slums had been built.

In the meantime, Li Xuejo pointed out that "We need to learn from Indonesia`s experience in handling natural disasters like tsunamis which struck and destroyed Aceh and environs.

Our country was also often struck by quakes, floods, typhoons and others," he said.
Minister Salim not only had a dialog with government officials, but also visited the Social Service Center which took care of social assistance in Beijing and for the homes of senior citizens.

He was also slated to visit a Community Service Centre in Shanghai, to open a cooperation with social welfare.(*)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
COPYRIGHT © 2012

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