Secretary General Jens Orback of the International Palme Center will be speaking at the Conference “Growth, Social Balance and Sustainability: Perspectives for Social Democratic Economic Policies in Asia” in Jakarta October 19 to 22. The conference brings together about 50 Asian politicians from across the region.
The conference is the third in Asia Network-Social Democracy Network, and collects social democratic parties from all over Asia, including Indonesia, Philippines, India and South Korea. The purpose of this conference is that in the aftermath of the economic crisis to shape an economic, social democratic discourse and to discuss concrete recommendations for selected sectors of the economy.
“Most of the world’s 1.3 billion extreme poor do not live in the poorest countries,” says Jens Orback, the Palme Center’s General Secretary.
“Instead, there are three quarters of those in middle income countries such as India and Indonesia. This requires the development of general social safety net and welfare systems in these countries. Therefore, the discussions in Jakarta important. Many progressive Asian politicians are curious about the Swedish social democracy experience,” he says
Other organizers behind the conference are Indonesian Institute of Welfare, Democracy, Asian Social Democracy in Asia and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
