High-level side event on “Mobilising Women’s Potential for Economic Growth and Development: Opportunities and Challenges in Times of Financial Crisis”
Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus in Doha, Qatar
(29 November – 2 December 2008)
ECE receives MDG 3 Torch from the Secretary General
The high-level side event, organized by Norway in close collaboration with ECE during the first day of the Conference discussed how to mobilize women’s economic potential for growth and development. All regional commissions participated in the event which was facilitated by ECE.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered a key note address in which he emphasized that the global economy would come to a halt without women’s work, including the unpaid and under-appreciated work of women in the informal sector. Ban Ki-moon handed MDG3-torches – part of the Danish “Call for Action” initiative – to the ECE and other regional commissions, and urged them to intensify their efforts in furthering gender equality.
Erik Solheim, Norwegian Minister of Environment and Development Cooperation chaired the panel which included the Vice President of Gambia, Ministers from Denmark, Germany, Nepal, and Mexico, as well as the Executive Secretaries of UNECA and UNESCWA.
The panellists agreed that the current financial crisis presents an additional challenge for reaching MDG3 but it is also an opportunity both to strengthen the case for the “smart economics” approach to gender equality and to integrating a gender perspective into measures to stabilize financial markets and revive economic growth. To make this happen there is a need for a driving wedge for economic gender equality.
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Speech on behalf of the regional commissions
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Speech by Executive Secretary, UNESCWA
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Summary of the discussions
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Regional Commissions Flyer
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Photos taken during the event
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Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations and
Representatives of UNECE and ECLAC with MDG-3 Torch |
Ms. Ewa Ruminska-Zimmy, Gender Focal Point, receives MDG-3 Torch on behalf of UNECE |
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Ms. Susan Bartolo, Chef de Cabinet, UNECE, receives MDG-3 Torch on behalf of ESCAP. |
Mr. Al-Dafa, Executive Secretary, ESCWA, receives MDG-3 Torch |
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