ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser on Monday said that empowered women would bring socio economic prosperity in the country.

Equal education, health and economic opportunities would bring women of the country at par with their male counterparts, he added while speaking to participants of an event centred around sustainable development goal (SDG)-5 which concerns gender equality.

“Today’s event is a milestone in the history of the National Assembly. With our friends from industry, civil society, tech start-ups, United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (Unicef), British High Commission and so many others, we are launching a one year programme on SDG-5. This year’s International Women’s Day theme by UN-Women is ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’,” he said.

Convener of SDG Secretariat MNA Riaz Fatyana said, “We are gathered here to celebrate and commemorate International Women’s Day and what could be a better way to celebrate than to provide a prestigious platform to the women of this country to showcase their talents, ideas, innovations and their potential for meaningful activism to achieve gender equality.”

The social policy chief of Unicef Luis Gorjon said their aim was to create a safe and secure country for women to live in, adding, there was need to fill in legislative gaps, specifically laws about women.

Minister for National Food Security and Research Fakhar Imam acknowledged the SDG Secretariat for arranging a successful event and thanked all the partners, particularly Unicef for their contribution towards making it successful.

Visiting chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Ian Liddell-Granger from the United Kingdom, House of Commons and secretary general of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Mr Stephen Twigg were present at the event.

The event was moderated and conducted by Shandana Gulzar Khan, MNA and chairperson of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians. MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz, Nafeesa I. Khattak, Sana Jamali, Shaheen Naz Saifullah, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, MNA Zille Huma, Naureen Farooq Ibrahim, Seemi Ezdi, Faisal Javed Khan and others were also there.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2022