TEHRAN – Zahra Behrouz-Azar, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, has stated that the current administration focuses on empowering women in social and economic areas, as well as improving their access to social services and facilities through implementing certain national programs.

Iran has always focused on programs that empower women, particularly those who are heads of household, economically and socially. Actions taken by the country have always aimed to promote women’s status by observing the principles of the constitution and Islamic teachings,” Mehr news agency quoted Behrouz-Azar as saying.

She made the remarks while addressing the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference in Thailand.

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (SCAP) convened the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing +30 review in collaboration with UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in Bangkok, from November 19 to 21.

Referring to Iran’s remarkable achievements in education, health, science, technology, and entrepreneurship, she underscored the prominent role of Iranian women in these fields.

The official further said the seventh National Development Plan has stressed the need to overcome barriers to women’s professional development. Accordingly, the current administration has put supporting women’s entrepreneurship and home business growth on the agenda despite unfair sanctions.

Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference

The Conference brought together Ministers, senior officials, and representatives from relevant Ministries, civil society organizations, youth organizations, academia, the private sector, UN entities, independent experts, and other key stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region to assess progress in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) in Asia and the Pacific over the past five years.

It also aimed to review current and emerging challenges, good practices, lessons learned, and priority actions required to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and provide a platform for member States and stakeholders to explore policy options and strategies, including innovative approaches, toward realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The other goals were to build regional consensus on priority actions to accelerate the implementation of commitments made in the BPfA, and consolidate regional inputs to the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women which will focus on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly.

MT/MG