Conference was attended by TÜRKPA Secretary General Altınbek Mamayusupov, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Bahar Muradova, President of Azerbaijan State Committee on Family, Women and Children Matters Hicran Hüseynova, President of the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation Günay Efendiyeva, MPs of Turkic Council countries, representatives of international organizations, diplomats from embassies of the member countries in Baku, as well as the Ambassador of Hungary to Baku and the Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Baku.
In his opening speech, TURKPA Secretary General Mamayusupov stated that the role of women in the Turkic world has increased gradually and that some of the existing problems in the world regarding gender equality are also present in the Turkic world, thus the elimination of these problems is one of the priority issues for TÜRKPA.
Deputy Chairman of Azerbaijan National Assembly Bahar Muradova emphasized the importance of gender equality and stated that women should have an equal voice with men in solving world problems. Muradova stressed the importance of TURKPA women members to take a common stance in all international organizations.
MP Ainura Altybayeva, Head of the Delegation of Kyrgyzstan, stated that the government and NGOs should act together to achieve sustainable development and emphasized the importance of integrating women in all areas of social and economic life in order to ensure gender equality.
Head of the Delegation of Kazakhstan, MP Gulzhana Karagusova, , stated that gender equality is one of the priorities of her country's policy. Karagusova, who shared the information that the rate of women in the parliament of Kazakhstan is 27 percent, said that they believe that this figure should be increased.
MP Nurhayat Kayışoğlu, Head of the Delegation of Turkey, stated that the Turkic world women has a great responsibility for a more prosperous, inclusive and more flexible world. Stating that their living standards will increase with the new generations that women will raise and with increasing the quality of education, Kayışoğlu said that they aim to create a set of universal targets that seek solutions to the health, environment, political and economic problems facing the world.
The delegations also discussed the issues of gender equality in the world and in the region as well as the role of women in the development of society.
The conference continued with the panels on ‘Creating opportunities for gender equality in the Turkic Council countries and TURKPA as a platform for strengthening the dialogue among women of the Turkic world
In the first panel, Project Director Zhyldyz Uzakova delivered a speech and gave detailed information to the participants about the Turkic Council and and highlighted the role of the Turkic Council in the common solidarity of women of the Turkic world. In this context, Zhyldyz Uzakova informed the participants about the projects and acitivities carried out by the Turkic Council o in the fields of economy, tourism, youth and sports, education and she also referred to the young diplomats training program.
She noted that Turkic Council has been carrying out joint vocational trainings among the Member States in the field of tourism. With the facilitation of the Secretariat, these vocational training programs on service sector for tourism employees of the other Member States were organized in coordination with relevant Ministries and tourism associations. Several universities and hotels in the target Member States also involved in these vocational trainings. In the course of 2014-2017, more than 1000 tourism employees in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were trained and 50% were women. This capacity building initiative became subject to the several UN reports with its consideration as a best practice for the achievement of SDGs. She noted that similar training programs are planned to be organized including the female employees.
At the end of the speech, Uzakova underlined that the Turkic Council puts young people and women in the focus of all its activities, attaches great importance to the empowerment of women in all areas, the elimination of gender inequalities, and the provision of equality of opportunity between men and women and will continue to work on this issue in its future activities.
