Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni has said Bangladesh, according to Global Gender Gap Report 2012, has ranked 8th globally in terms of political empowerment of women due to the present government’s pro-women policies.
The Foreign Minister said this at a high-level roundtable titled ‘Equal Futures Partnership’ hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York, said a Foreign Ministry media release here on Tuesday.
The World Bank President and Foreign Ministers of 20 partner countries from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, including Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Indonesia, participated in the round able aimed at enhancing political and economic empowerment of women.
Bangladesh was praised at the meeting for enhancing its women labor force from 24 percent (2010) to 36 percent in 2013 and a significant representation of women at highest political levels.
Earlier, the Foreign Minister attended another roundtable jointly organized by the Netherlands and Bangladesh on ‘Working Together to Improve Working Conditions in the RMG Sector in Bangladesh.’
Following discussions, the DG of ILO and the government of the Netherlands, Canada and the UK signed an agreement to finance the ILO project on support to Bangladesh’s RMG industries to improve safety and welfare of workers.
The Foreign Minister also met her counterparts from Costa Rica. During the bilateral meeting, they discussed advancing cooperation with the CVF (Climate Vulnerable Forum) process.
They also spoke about the forthcoming meeting of the CVF Finance Ministers, as the Group Vulnerable 20 (V-20) on the sidelines of the forthcoming World bank/IMF board meeting Washington. The Costa Rican Foreign Minister also proposed designating non-resident ambassadors in each other countries. – UNB
