Dubai: The UAE Gender Balance Council (UAE GBC) has explored potential areas of future cooperation with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to strengthen their partnership in various sectors.
The discussion was held between Ms. Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE GBC, and Ms. Saadia Zahidi, Director-General of the WEF, marking the culmination of the Council’s involvement in the activities of WGS 2023.
The UAE GBC reaffirmed the country’s unwavering commitment to gender balance, which highlights the nation’s pioneering role and influential position in this field both regionally and globally.
During the meeting, both parties agreed to continue collaboration in several areas, including jointly organising forums and events to learn from global best practices and their applicability in countries that continue to encounter challenges in achieving gender balance. This approach will help lead towards Sustainable Development Goal 5, to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Ms. Al Marri stressed the council’s commitment to collaborate with the WEF in discovering efficient and advanced models that ensure women’s access to equitable opportunities for development across all areas. The ultimate goal is to achieve global objectives for gender balance while sharing the UAE’s pioneering experience in this domain.
Ms. Zahidi commended the UAE for attaining an advanced level of gender balance, which represents the wise leadership’s commitment to leveraging the role of women as a central pillar in achieving development and prosperity. The Director-General further remarked that the UAE’s accomplishments, coupled with a legislative framework that promotes gender balance, contributed to the country’s ranking as the top Arab nation in the WEF’s Gender Gap Report 2022.
Ms. Zahidi expressed the WEF’s pride in its partnership with the UAE through the UAE GBC by stating that “this partnership will help us in achieving further progress in global gender balance through the Council’s effective contribution to the work of the WEF’s Centre for New Economy and Society. This will help reinforce global initiatives aimed at giving the gender parity agenda a crucial place at the centre of international economic recovery efforts and on equal footing.”