29 January 2004	Thursday	06 Zilhaj 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: The third summit of the first ladies of Regional Steering Committee of Asia-Pacific will be held from February 10 to 12. This was decided at the fourth preparatory meeting for the summit here on Wednesday.

The meeting, presided over by Begum Sehba Musharraf, reviewed necessary arrangements for the summit. The prime minister's adviser on women development and social welfare and special education Nilofar Bakhtiar, was also present on the occasion.

Begum Sehba in her opening remarks said Pakistan was elected in September 2003 to host the Third Summit of RSC-AP once in its tenure. "The summit is a showcasing in whatever the member countries achieved for the empowerment of women," she said.

Begum Sehba said the main theme of the summit is "Rural women and government, making a difference" whereas the two sub-themes are "Political empowerment of rural women as means of alleviating poverty" and "Micro credit for the economic empowerment of rural women".

Pakistan has already been successfully implementing these themes, she added. Chief Coordinator and Additional Secretary of the women development ministry, Suhail Safdar gave presentation about the arrangements for the summit.

The RSC-AP was formally established on September 5, 1995, in Beijing in conjunction with the fourth world conference on women. The members of RSC-AP are the first ladies of the Asia-Pacific region.

The main function of the RSC-AP is to coordinate and mobilize all efforts and commitment for the implementation of Geneva Declaration at regional levels. Other representation include the preparation of regional plans of actions, monitoring of the progress in the implementation of summit's recommendations.

It is also responsible for the organization of periodic meeting for evaluation of activities for rural women at regional levels. Current members of the RSC-AP include Pakistan, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Tonga, Australia and Papua New Guinea.-APP