JAKARTA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's tourist resort island of Bali is scheduled to host the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) on August 9-13, 2009, a spokesman for the event's organizers has said.

    "The congress will take place under the auspices of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific. About 500 delegates from 50 countries are expected to take part in the congress," Antara news agency Saturday quoted Chairman of the meeting's organizing committee Prof. Zubairi Djoerban as saying.

    The Bali congress would carry the theme "Empowering the People, Reinforcing Networks," he said here on Friday.

    Djoerban said the theme was related to the efforts to eradicate the HIV epidemic in the last 20 years which need networking cooperation.

    "We hope participants from Asia and the Pacific will share experience, particularly those who are policy makers," he said.

    Indonesia is one of the countries where the number of HIV cases is growing fast while the figure for Asia is actually declining.

    The number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia has continued to increase while it is estimated the disease will infect 400,000 and kill 100,000 people in 2010.

    "Without adequate intervention, the virus will by 2015 have infected one million people, killed 350,000 and infected 38,500 children," Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said here on Friday.