CAIRO, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak Saturday opened the 2006 Global Women Summit in Cairo, which was attended by some 900 women leaders in business, government and the professions from 88 countries and regions.
Among the attendees included Vietnamese Vice-President Truong My Hoa, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Management Henrietta H.Fore and 44 female ministers from various countries, including 21 from Africa.
China sent a 35-member delegation for the meeting, which includes women business, professional, NGO and governmental leaders.
Egypt's First Lady Mubarak said in her opening speech that today's women business performance was increasingly valued not only by success and financial markets, but also by achievements in social development.
"Today's gathering allows us - as women - to demonstrate that our contributions to development issues are inspired not only by the spirit of harmony and inclusiveness that is so predominant a trait of our gender, but also by the will and energy to succeed as equals in the world of the marketplace," she said. The percentage of women-owned business significantly increased, she said, adding that more and more women find access to the marketplace.
But, there continued to be a wide gap between what world wide organizations have delivered and what the society required, so much more was needed to be done in improving gender equality, she stressed.
The three-day summit, dubbed "the Davos for Women" in reference to the men-dominated annual economic forum held each year, would provide a platform for world wide women leaders to exchange good strategies and best practices that promote women's economic advancement, said summit organizers.
"At a time when the world seems mired in conflict, it is encouraging to see women extending themselves across borders to learn from each other and share expertise drawn from their own business experiences," said Irene Natividad, president of the organization with the same name which is organizing the summit. This year's summit, the 16th one since its first meeting in Canada's Montreal in 1991, has drawn record number of representatives, Natividad said.
The 2006 summit, under the theme "Redefining Global Leadership," is the first of its kind ever held in an Arab Muslim country. At a pre-summit conference Saturday, Natividad said that one of this year's summit goals was to show the world with a "more complex picture" among Arab women.
The 2006 summit would be used to introduce worldwide women attendees to their Egyptian and other Arab women counterparts, who she said "go against the stereotype of the veiled silent woman." The 2006 summit also feature a women's expo, which enables women business leaders to showcase their products or services to lure clients or partners.
Microsoft, with nearly 120 of women employees from 32 countries for the summit, has sent the largest delegation among all national and company representations, a Microsoft spokeswoman told Xinhua. Enditem
