The Ad Hoc meeting on SPECA Working Group on Gender
and Economy took place on 8-9 December 2005,
at the Palais des Nations (Room IX) in Geneva.
The meeting was the follow-up to the decision taken at the
International
conference on strengthening subregional economic cooperation
in Central Asia and the future role of SPECA, Astana (May
2005) to consider a setting up of a new thematic
group on gender and economy. It discussed proposals for
the Terms of Reference and the program of work for the
new thematic group for 2005-2007. These proposals will
be presented to the next Governing Council of SPECA.
The meeting gathered representatives of National Gender Machineries,
line economic ministries and NGOs from SPECA member countries
– Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
and Uzbekistan and well as observes from some countries including
Georgia. International experts, representatives of UN agencies
and international organizations as well as bilateral donors
also participated in the meeting. The meeting was organized
in cooperation with OSCE/ODHIR.