A video conference on the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) High-level Dialogue regarding the promotion of women’s economic empowerment amid the COVID-19 pandemic opened on October 12, with nearly 130 delegates from 41 ASEM member countries and seven international and regional organisations in attendance.

Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung give a speech at the dialogue
(Photo: VNA)

The dialogue was an initiative proposed by Vietnam and receive strong supported from ASEM members. Eight nations, including Australia, China, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, and Norway co-sponsored and worked together to implement the initiative.

The two-day dialogue focuses on discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on women’s economic activities, thus proposing measures to step up Asia-Europe cooperation to improve women’s economic power in current economic recovery efforts.

Upon addressing the event, Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung highlighted 2020 as a landmark year for carrying out the goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment and marks the 25th year of implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to promote gender equality, the 20th anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security, and the five year implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

As an important inter-regional forum that gathers 53 members from the two continents, Asia and Europe, ASEM has made remarkable contributions to promoting gender equality and enhancing economic empowerment for women, he said. 

He also asked ASEM to bolster Asia-Europe cooperation to secure coordination policies to promote women’s empowerment to achieve the “twin goals” of responding to the pandemic and promoting post-pandemic economic recovery.

Dr Sok Siphana, Senior Advisor with the Cambodian Government and ASEM SOM Leader for Cambodia, greatly valued Vietnam’s initiative, emphasising that the dialogue has contributed to promoting ASEM’s strong commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

He also made important recommendations for submission to the 13th ASEM Summit, set to be held in Cambodia in 2021.
Caitlin Wiesen, Chief Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, emphasized that the strong development of digital technology and the complex development of the pandemic led to socio-economic crises and threatened achievements made in narrowing the gender gap over recent decades.

She underscored the significance of the dialogue, saying it helps promote the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Along with the success of the ASEAN Leaders’ Special Session at the 36thASEAN Summit on Women’s Empowerment in the Digital Age in June, the dialogue affirmed Vietnam’s role and contribution in multilateral frameworks and in regional and global efforts in promoting gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.