National Commission on the Status of Women in collaboration with the Egyptian Embassy and UN Women Pakistan organized a meeting between the office bearers of the Women Chambers of Commerce and Industries from all over Pakistan and key figures from the financial institutes/major Banks today at the Egyptian Embassy here in Islamabad. Prime objective of the activity was to improve coordination between these two major actors through interactive dialogue for enhanced financial inclusion of women. Chairperson NCSW Ms. Nilofar Bakhtiar speaking on the occasion said that the economic empowerment of women is the key to development and progress of this nation. NCSW works on this agenda by introducing various initiatives and bringing together key actors to openly discuss the gaps and to identify solutions essential for inclusion of more women in the business world. At present, only one percent of women are entrepreneurs in Pakistan, which is the lowest rate in this region. Presidents of the women Chamber of Commerce and Industries from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi, AJ&K and Gilgit Baltistan were present on the occasion. Other major financial institutions those participated were the State Bank of Pakistan, National Bank of Pakistan, First Women Bank and JS Bank. Women Chamber of Commerce and industries office holders demanded greater resource allocation for women-owned small and medium enterprises by the financial institutes. The spouse of the Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan Ms. Aliya provided the venue for the dialogue being a keen supporter of women’s economic empowerment initiatives. She believes that women from all over the globe need to support each other to claim their rightful status in society. Ms. Sharmeela Rasool, Country-Head UN Women Pakistan also spoke on occasion and elaborated critical importance of this initiative and assured maximum support of UN-Women Pakistan in taking this agenda forward. The whole group agreed to mutually support and promote products made by women, home-based workers and other women-led businesses. It was agreed that NCSW with support of Egyptian Embassy and UN Women Pakistan will organize peer-learning workshops. NCSW is already working on these lines by organizing webinars with international role models in the business world and providing opportunities of dialogue between them and our local entrepreneurs to improve networking and to learn from each other. NCSW and UN Women suggested changes in chamber policies to ensure gender parity among staff and to make membership of chamber easier so that more and more women can join.
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