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Valentina Matvienko led the first meeting of the Organizing Committee of the Second Eurasian Women's Forum
26 October 2017
Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko led the first meeting of the Organizing Committee of the Second Eurasian Women's Forum.
The concept of hosting the Forum and the key items of its agenda were presented at the meeting.
Valentina Matvienko noted that the second Eurasian Women's Forum would be held in St. Petersburg on 20-21September 2018. "We need to host the Forum on a fundamentally new level, in a modern format, with a broad, interesting and relevant agenda," said the IPA CIS Council Chairperson. She stressed that the forthcoming Forum was a long-awaited event globally. All women participants of the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union confirmed their interest in attending the Forum.
“Strengthening international cooperation, developing partnerships and ties to find new solutions to empower women and to strengthen their role in achieving the sustainable development goals is the intention of the second Eurasian Women's Forum”, added the IPA CIS Council Chairperson.
The concept of the Forum has already been formed. Its content is extensive and involves international coverage and formats for holding discussions with world's leading experts and international organizations.
Valentina Matvienko stressed that one of the most important steps in the run-up to the event was to ensure high-level foreign representation at the Forum. The respective efforts have been taken for the past two years, including through international organizations and associations such as OSCE, UNIDO, APEC, SCO, and BRICS.
According to the Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, the Forum will cover all the mentioned topics of the international women's agenda and provide a new impetus for elaborating those topics. A number of international organizations and associations have already expressed their intent to organize their panels during the Forum. The Forum will, for the first time, feature a panel session of UNIDO and UNESCO, the presentation of the report of the World Health Organization, the meeting of the BRICS Women's Business Club.
Valentina Matvienko emphasized the importance of considering international dates in the drafting of the Forum agenda. For example, in 2018, the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated. Also on 21 September, one of the dates of the forum, the United Nations celebrates the International Day of Peace.
She also stressed the need for reliable visa support for the Forum guests and the coverage of the events in the media, including on the Internet portal "Eurasian Women's Community".
Deputy Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Galina Karelova spoke about the activities of the Working Group of the Eurasian Women's Forum and presented the concept of its program. The main idea is to keep the connection with the First EWF, expand international women's cooperation and create the platform for new projects aimed at empowering women and strengthening their role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. According to her, to this date, the draft program already includes 39 discussion and presentation areas.
Galina Karelova also said that the second Forum would feature sessions, presentations of reports, and roundtables of a number of international organizations. "The key feature of the second forum is international participation and expert sessions. In addition to the official part, a cultural program will be offered to the Forum participants."
"The IPA CIS looks forward to the participation of all the CIS countries in the Second Eurasian Women's Forum", said IPA CIS Council Secretary General Alexey Sergeev.
Alexey Sergeev also addressed the Organizing Committee with two proposals: on the possible inclusion to the Organizing Committee of representatives of legislative and executive bodies of the Commonwealth states and on discussing the topic "Woman in Culture" during the Forum.
Vice Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Ilyas Umakhanov, members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, representatives of federal and regional executive bodies, scientists, culture and business attended the meeting.
