Islamabad, February 8
A three-member Indian delegation, led by the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Haptullah, will arrive here tomorrow to attend a regional meeting on the advancement of rural women.The third meeting of the Regional Steering Committee for the Advancement of Rural Island Women of the Asia Pacific (RSCAP), headed by the wife of President Pervez Musharraf, Sehba, would be inaugurated by the Pakistan President on Tuesday.
It would adopt a declaration and review the progress by the member countries on various welfare programmes for women, Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Women Development, Nilofar Bhakathiyar, told reporters here.
The Indian delegation includes two officials — Deepa Wadhwani and S. Sdharshan.
The RSCAP consists of 10 member states — Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam. However, some non-member countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand have also been invited to further strengthen the RSCAP, Ms Bhakathyar said.
The conference would discuss steps to be taken to improve the status of rural women and highlight the problems faced by them.
She said the theme of the meeting would be “Rural Women and Government, Making a Difference”, whereas the two sub-themes are “Political Empowerment of Rural Women as Means of Alleviating Poverty” and “Micro-Credit for the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women”.
The meeting would also review difficulties faced by rural and island women and the contribution being made by them for the economies of their regions, she said. —
PTI
