It should be noted that the Dialogue of Women Leaders of Central Asian Countries was founded in December 2020 on the initiative of Uzbekistan in order to support women in the region, increase their political, economic and social role and expand their opportunities to participate in the decision-making process related to sustainable development, and is an informal regional platform.
The forum, which was attended by members of the Dialogue of Women Leaders of Central Asia, the UN Development Program, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Central Asia, heads of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia, discussed the work carried out under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan in 2022 within the framework of the Dialogue, the discussion focused on gender equality issues in the region. There was also an exchange of views on the identification of priority areas of activity and institutionalization of this platform.
The Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, T. Narbayeva, in her speech at the meeting, stressed that thanks to joint efforts, the Dialogue has become an urgent regional platform and an important platform for a broad and open discussion of issues of ensuring gender equality by the countries of Central Asia. It was noted that overall development is largely related to issues of gender equality and support for women, depends on the level of global and regional attention, as they play a crucial role as a factor of development and a powerful driving force of prosperity and economic growth.
N. German, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Central Asia, Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia, noted Uzbekistan's systematic approach to ensuring gender equality, the effectiveness of the functioning of the National Platform for Dialogue with Women Leaders in Uzbekistan. In her opinion, Tashkent's experience in this regard makes a practical contribution to the further strengthening of the Dialogue.
The women leaders of the Central Asian countries also spoke and focused on the work done during the year within the framework of the Dialogue platform, and positively assessed the results of Turkmenistan's chairmanship, noting that gender equality is a necessary basis for creating a peaceful, prosperous and stable future for all.
The meeting adopted documents allowing to develop and implement new practical measures on the agenda of the meeting, in particular, the development of regional cooperation in such areas as the prevention and elimination of violence against women, support for women's entrepreneurship, as well as strengthening peace, stability and security in Central Asia.
Since the term of the chairmanship is one year, the issue of its transfer to another state in 2023 was also considered, and the chairmanship officially passed to Kazakhstan, the information service of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan reports.
