AIWF Board Member Raghda Kurdi was delighted to join a leading group of experts, officials from multilateral and international organizations, and business entities in Barcelona to explore strategies to overcome existing barriers for women in the economic sphere in the Mediterranean region and promote their economic empowerment. Raghda was a speaker in the Conference ‘Towards more inclusive economies’, co-organised by the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC), the European Institute of the Mediterranean and the Union for the Mediterranean, which hosted the event on the 20-21 September.
Closing the gender gap in economic participation, fostering female entrepreneurship, improving inclusion in legal systems, and increasing women’s representation in leadership roles were among the issues discussed in various sessions, and they are all key priorities in AIWF’s international advocacy for the economic inclusion of women and young people in the MENA and internationally.
Among the distinguished participants were Noha El-Mikawy, Dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the The The American University in Cairo; Lilia Hachem Naas, Director of the Office for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Trade Centre; Cristina Gonzalez Viu, General Manager of MicroBank (CaixaBank); and Maria Teixidor, President of the Women and Enterprise Committee for Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (PIMEC).
An upcoming paper by IEMed will include the major issues tackled and recommendations stemming from the event. AIWF was delighted to have Raghda Kurdi on this esteemed panel and looks forward to continuing all longstanding support of the UfM and its key partners in the region.
