On May 13-14 this year, the Asian Women’s Forum was held in the city of Samarkand on the theme “A regional approach to the economic, social and political empowerment of women”.

The forum was attended by honored guests from more than 30 foreign countries and international organizations – Women Parliamentarians of the participating countries, heads of governments of East Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, representative offices of foreign states in our country and more than 40 representatives of foreign organizations, as well as representatives of local government bodies, civil society institutions, women leaders, businessmen, political scientists, public figures, scientists, representatives of economic sectors, academics and economists.

Opening the forum, Senate Chairperson Tanzila Narbaeva presented an address from President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the participants of the event.

As it was noted at the forum, thanks to the high political will of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the issues of ensuring the interests of women, gender equality and strengthening the family have become one of the priority areas of our policy. Women’s participation in the socio-political, economic and spiritual life of our country and in making important decisions is expanding considerably.

In a short period of time, a national legislative base that meets international standards of the industry has been formed, a striking example being the adoption of more than 80 normative legal acts in the last 5 years. Important laws “On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men” and “On protection of women from harassment and violence” were adopted and put into practice.

A gender strategy has been adopted for the period up to 2030 to adjust the gender equality policy and ensure its full implementation. Work on its implementation in all branches and sectors are well under way. Such concepts as gender expertise of normative legal acts, adoption of gender national budget, gender audit are being introduced and put into practice in the legislation.

At the same time, the UN Deputy Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women Sima Bakhus, Director General of the UN Geneva Office Tatiana Valovaya, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Martin Chungong, as well as heads of parliaments of a number of states spoke at the forum, touching upon the goals and objectives of the forum, its significance and expected results.

After the opening ceremony, the participants were divided into parallel sessions with the aim of sharing experience, studying modern approaches of international organizations and financial institutions in this field. One of the sessions was moderated by the Authorized Person of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights (Ombudsman).

The forum discussed such issues as the economic empowerment of women, their broad involvement in entrepreneurship and innovation, women’s participation in scientific and innovative activities, education, as well as the use of digital technologies, poverty reduction by ensuring their leadership in the modern world economy.

The Samarkand Declaration was adopted as a result of the forum.