D-8 Meeting on Rural Women Empowerment

The Meeting of D8 countries on Rural Women Empowerment was held at Azadi Grand Hotel here in Tehran, Iran on November 17-18, 2014. The meeting, hosted and organized by Bank Keshavarzi-APRACA Center of Excellence in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) was attended by representatives of D8 countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

During the Opening ceremony of the meeting Dr. Farzin Mo'tamed, Head of APRACA-BK Center of Excellence on Women Empowerment and Manager of International Cooperation Department; Dr. Mousavi, D-8 Secretary General; Chamnong Siriwongyotha, Secretary General of Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA); Balasubramaniam Murali, Deputy Resident Representative of United Nations Development Program (UNDP); Mr. Bizmark, Director General for Multilateral Economic Cooperation Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Molaverdi, Vice-president in Women and Family Affairs and Dr. Mohammad Talebi, the former Chairman and CEO of Bank Keshavarzi made opening and keynote speeches. The meeting was also attended by delegates of relevant government agencies (Central Banks, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, agricultural banks, as well as private institutions and stakeholders active in providing assistance to rural women.

Within the two days of the meeting the participants presented their countries reports on the issue of rural women empowerment and discussed issues such as progress made by D-8 member states in rural development. The Meeting also considered the feasibility of setting up a joint micro credit fund and establishing a possible vocational training mechanism for rural women.