IORA Ministerial Conference: Women’s Economic Empowerment- A Pre-requisite for Sustainable Development

The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, Republic of Mauritius will host the First IORA Ministerial Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment, which coincides with the 50th Independence Anniversary of Mauritius.

The Conference, Women’s Economic Empowerment- A Pre-requisite for Sustainable Development, will bring together about 100 participants from IORA Member States, comprising relevant Ministers of Women’s Affairs, senior technical experts, entrepreneurs, private sector and civil society representatives working for gender equality. The Conference will be a platform for IORA Member States to share best practices related to women’s economic empowerment and to identify structural barriers and challenges that impede full economic participation. The focus will be on implementation of new strategies, projects and actions, including the development of a Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment.

Since 2013, Women’s Economic Empowerment has been recognised as cross-cutting area in IORA and has been captured in various landmark documents including the 2016 IORA Declaration on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment and the 2017 IORA Concord For more see: Women's Economic Empowerment