DHAKA: Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said, “Under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s watch, the Government remains committed as ever to breaking all political and social barriers standing in the way of our women and girls”.
He made the disclosure at a High-level Meeting of Equal Futures Partnership on the margins of the 69th UNGA in New York on Tuesday.
In order to ensure women’s political and economic participation in all spheres of life, on 24 September 2012, the Equal Futures Partnership was launched by the United States along with other 12 founding members, including Bangladesh.
AH Mahmood also said, “Bangladesh is perhaps one of the only countries in the world that has a woman Prime Minister, Speaker of the Parliament, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the House.”
He also highlighted that Bangladesh has gone up one notch from 8th to 7th position in women’s political empowerment in the Global Gender Gap Report 2013.
The Foreign Minister also said, “Since 2009, the number of women entrepreneurs has quadrupled in Bangladesh. Around 3.3 million women have been given micro-finance for entrepreneur leadership. ”
Referring to the ongoing work at the UN on the post-2015 development agenda, he wished to join hands with all other Equal Future Partners for the inclusion of gender equality as a stand-alone and a cross-cutting goal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chaired the event while Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to U.S. President and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls made her welcome remarks in the meeting based on the theme “Increasing Women’s Representation in Leadership Positions“.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Ministers of 25 other countries, including Australia, UK, Switzerland, Finland and Croatia.
BDST: 1050 HRS, SEP 23, 2014
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