Egyptian First Lady Suzan Mubarak, will head an extraordinary two-day Arab Women’s Summit to be held in Cairo on November 5, according to the daily Al Gomhuria.
The first lady is expected to use the event as a forum to announce the creation of the Arab Women’s Organization within the Arab League.
Earlier, the Arab League Council agreed at the ministerial level to establish the organization as a governmental body to enhance cooperation between Arab countries in developing and improving the conditions of women.
A committee chaired by National Women’s Council member Mustafa Al Faki is currently preparing a proposal on the proposed organization, to be presented to the upcoming summit for discussion and endorsement.
“The summit will assert the initiative of the Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdulla regarding the establishment of a mechanism within the framework of the Arab Women’s Organization to look after Arab women abroad. This is to enhance the continuity between female Arab expatriates and their homelands,” added the daily.
The National Women’s Council secretary general, Farkhanda Hasan, said that the extraordinary summit came as a result of previous summit resolutions.
“Because the year 2001 is the year of the Arab woman, it has been decided to hold the extraordinary summit meeting in November. The Cairo declaration issued by the first summit headed by Mrs. Mubarak called for the establishment of an executive committee to prepare for the summit through forums that would tackle women’s issues. Within this framework, the women and law forum was held in Bahrain last April, followed by the women and politics forum in Tunisia on June 1, 2001 and the expatriate women’s forum in Amman on September 30, 2001,” added Hasan.
As for the upcoming extraordinary summit, Hasan said, “it will focus on two points…the first is the presentation of reports on the three forums results and implementing their recommendations. The second is to discuss the convention and regulations related to the Arab Women’s Organization and endorsing them, Hasan added, according to the daily - Albawaba.com
