GSW 2022 good opportunity for Vietnam to promote women’s empowerment post-pandemic: Ambassador

Illustration. (Photo: VNA)

Bangkok (VNA) – Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan will lead a delegation of Vietnam to attend the upcoming Global Summit of Women 2022 (GSW 2022) in Bangkok, Thailand under the theme: “Women: Creating Opportunities in the New Reality.”

It will be a good opportunity for Vietnam to put forward more ideas and initiatives for the stronger empowerment of women in Vietnam and all around the world during the pre-pandemic recovery process and for the realisation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh.

The world has taken great strides in promoting gender equality, Thanh told Vietnam News Agency correspondents, and these efforts have been challenged by multiple factors, particularly the current impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam has also been dealing with various challenges, including sex imbalance at birth, gender gap in earnings and living standards, and how to ensure welfare for ethnic minority women, he said.

Vietnam has been an active participant of the GSW, with the high-level engagement, he noted, which reflects its determination to further advance gender equality globally through strengthening women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially with respect to supporting vulnerable groups of women – women from ethnic minority communities, those with disabilities, refugees and migrant women.

Last year, Vice President Xuan also led a Vietnamese delegation to attend the GSW 2021 in Lisbon, where Vietnam was honoured with the Country Leadership Award in recognition for its efforts and achievements in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment over the past two decades, the ambassador recalled.

In 2008, Vietnam hosted the GSW in Hanoi under the theme “Women and Asia: Driving the Global Economy, he said, emphasising that Vietnam attaches importance to ensuring gender equality and the advancement of women. The country is among the fastest in closing the gender gap in the last 20 years and is anticipated to be one of the earliest to accomplish the SGD for gender equality.

The Vietnamese diplomat went on to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has been a wakeup call for countries and the international community to together take strong actions to not only keep the disease under control and maintain social stability, but also recover and develop in a sustainable, inclusive and innovative way. He described women as not only players but also leaders who lead global development trends.

At the GSW 2021, Vice President Xuan called on the international community to further promote the role and the full and equal participation of women in preventing conflicts and addressing non-traditional security challenges, Thanh said. In the post-pandemic recovery period, women must be provided with an enabling environment to access resources and knowledge, apply science and technology, and be equipped with necessary skills to start a business and develop the digital economy.

The GSW was launched in 1990. It regularly welcomes around 1,000 female politicians and business leaders from more than 70 countries and territories. This year, the event will take place in Bangkok from June 23 – 25.

Vice President Xuan will also take the occasion to hold bilateral meetings with Thailand’s leaders and meet the Vietnamese community there./.