UNB, Dhaka :
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali has reiterated Bangladesh’s commitment to remove all political and social barriers to the development of women and girls.
“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 told a high-level meeting of Equal Futures Partnership on the margins of the 69th UNGA in New York on Monday afternoon, according to a message received here on Tuesday.
In order to ensure women’s political and economic participation in all spheres of life, the Equal Futures Partnership was launched by the United States along with other 12 founding members, including Bangladesh, on September 24, 2012.
Highlighting 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 Bangladesh Foreign Minister said, “Bangladesh is perhaps the only country in the world that has a woman Prime Minister, Speaker of the Parliament, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the House.”
In his statement, Mahmood Ali also said, “Since 2009, the number of women entrepreneurs has quadrupled in Bangladesh. Some 3.3 million women have been given microfinance for entrepreneur leadership. ” US Secretary of State John Kerry chaired the event while Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to US 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.
Referring to the ongoing work at the UN on the post-2015 development agenda, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister wishes to join hands with all other Equal Future Partners for the inclusion of gender equality as a stand-alone and a cross-cutting goal.
Meanwhile, Mahmood Ali had a bilateral meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in New York on Monday.
During the meeting, the foreign minister briefed his Australian counterpart on the challenges Bangladesh is facing with regard to climate change. He also underscored the need for concluding an international binding document. Julie Bishop highly appreciated Bangladesh’s contribution to Bali process.
She also extolled Bangladesh’s unique contribution to the UN as one of the highest troop-contributing countries of the world. Mahmood Ali informed the Australian Minister that Bangladesh has also the highest level of representation of female police in the UN peacekeeping missions.
Julie Bishop expressed her government’s special interest to the Indian Ocean Rim and hoped that this will promote sustainable development. She invited Bangladesh to participate in the Ministerial Meeting of IOR which is scheduled to be held next month.
