EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Women leaders

Photo: flickr.com

The conference participants – high-ranking politicians, representatives from international organisations, the private and non-governmental sectors will be discussing equal rights for women and women's empowerment in the global labour market and their access to financial resources including credit. Examples of assistance projects and best practices on women's entrepreneurship in developing countries will be analysed.

Welcoming remarks were made by the Latvian Foreign Ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs, Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, and opening statements – by the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica; a former President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga; and Director of Coordination Division of UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Moez Doraid.

The livestream of discussions and a press conference with the Foreign Ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica and Commissioner Neven Mimica will be available on the websites of the Latvian Presidency (www.eu2015.lv) and the Latvian Foreign Ministry (www.mfa.gov.lv).

Students of the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Latvia will provide information online via social media. Using the hashtags #gender and #EY2015 on Twitter, all will have the chance to address questions to participants.

The month of March in the European Year for Development is dedicated to the rights of women and girls. A broad debate will take place on how important it is to ensure equal rights in education, for jobs, fair wages, the rights to property and inheritance, and social guarantees. Gender equality and the rights of women and girls is also one of the main priorities for Latvia's Presidency in the development cooperation policy.

The conference is organised by the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in association with the European Commission.