UAE GBC explores enhanced partnership with Mediterranean Parliamentary Women’s Forum – News – Emirates

The UAE Gender Balance Committee (UAE GBC) held discussions today with the Women’s Forum of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly to explore ways of expanding their cooperation. The Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly is an international organization that brings together parliaments from the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf regions to discuss common challenges.

The meeting was attended by Her Excellency Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice-Chairman of the UAE Gender Balance Committee; Her Excellency Joanna Lima, Chairperson of the Women’s Forum of the Mediterranean Parliament and Head of the Portuguese Delegation to the Mediterranean Parliament; Her Excellency Fatima Zahraa Abdi, Vice-Chairman of the Forum; Secretariat of the Mediterranean Parliament Celine Cervi; and Her Excellency Maryam Majid bin Thaniya, Member of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Women’s Forum of the Mediterranean Parliament.

The move to strengthen cooperation with the Women’s Forum of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly is part of the UAE Gender Balance Committee’s efforts to expand partnerships with influential international gender balance bodies. The move also reflects the UAE leadership’s support for the Council’s goals of enhancing the role of women, maintaining their achievements in various fields, and promoting regional and global gender balance.

The meeting was coordinated by the General Secretariat of the Federal National Assembly in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. A delegation from the Parliament of the Mediterranean is currently visiting the UAE to participate in the Women’s Forum meeting of the Congress of the Mediterranean Parliament.

During the meeting, visiting delegations were briefed by the committee on its mission to close the gender gap across sectors in the UAE. The delegation also heard the committee’s initiatives inspired by the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, President of the National Federation of Women, President of the Supreme Council for Maternity and Childhood and Supreme Chairman of the Family Development Foundation, and in The UAE has made great strides in the field of gender balance following the instruction of His Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the UAE Gender Balance Council, Chairman of Dubai Women’s Institution, and wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs . The session also spoke about the recent selection of the UAE Gender Balance Council by the World Economic Forum as a knowledge partner to promote gender balance globally.

In addition, the meeting discussed new opportunities for cooperation between the Council and the Forum to strengthen the role of women in the political and parliamentary spheres. His Excellency Mona Al Marri said that the Federal National Council of the UAE has established a strong partnership with the Mediterranean Parliament, which reflects the strong economic, cultural, political and commercial relations between the UAE and Mediterranean countries. She added that the UAE GBC and the Women’s Forum of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly have the opportunity to build on these links to further promote gender balance regionally and globally.

Al Marri said that the UAE GBC and the Forum share the goal of promoting women’s participation and gender balance in political life as part of their efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The meeting also touched on the achievements of Emirati women in various fields, including their contributions in the political sphere. The discussion highlighted the UAE’s position as one of the world’s leading countries in terms of women’s parliamentary representation, as recognized by the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021 and 2022, as well as the Global Competitiveness Report released by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland (IMD), the institute ranks the UAE as number one in the world for female representation in Parliament in 2020 and 2021. Women make up 50% of the UAE Federal National Assembly and 27.5% of the UAE Cabinet. Al Marri emphasized that the UAE’s strategic plan places high priority on ensuring women’s equal participation in the country’s development process.

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