The 35 nations present agreed that progress in addressing these and other population issues, including gender inequality, migration, urbanization and ageing, are closely linked to prospects for eradicating poverty in the region, home to two thirds of the world’s 1.2 billion people living on less than $1 a day.

At this regional conference, all 35 nations present, except the United States, fully reaffirmed their commitment to the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo. Most of the governments explicitly stated that neither the Cairo Programme nor their current action plan promoted sexual activity for unmarried adolescents or abortion, as the United States delegation contended.

In an attempt to push their agendas the United States called for two procedural votes on U.S. reinterpretation on the terms "reproductive rights" and "reproductive health services", both which failed on a vote of 31-to-1 with two abstentions.

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said after the conference, "The ICPD Programme and the Key Actions of the subsequent ICPD fifth-year review are beautifully balanced documents, giving space to everything from voluntary abstinence to meeting unmet needs for family planning, and include carefully crafted language on abortion and adolescents, which articulates the common agreement among the participants in all their diverse cultures, religions, values and practices.”

“The language of the ICPD Programme of Action is extremely clear. There is no hidden agenda and no secret codes,” Ms. Obaid stressed. “The phrase ‘reproductive health services’ is not code for the promotion or support for ‘abortion services’. Nothing in the proceedings at Cairo, or the five-year review, justifies describing them as such.”