Vietnam Women's Union’s delegation attends the Istanbul Summit 2016 “Reconsidering Gender Equality and Peaceful Societies”, Bangkok, Thailand (7-8 May, 2016

The summit brought together about 300 participants from 33 countries, representing government agencies, intergovernmental institutions, civil society organizations, academia, private sector and journalists, reporters... The delegation of Vietnam Women's Union, head by Vice President Tran Thi Huong, attended the conference at the invitation of the Infinite Light Institute and the Horizon International Bilingual School Hanoi (Turkey).

The Istanbul Summit is organized annually since 2014 with different themes. The conference in Thailand this year titled "Reconsidering Gender Equality and Peaceful Societies" aiming to raise awareness of the international community to the specific concerns, needs and challenges faced by women in the context of sustainable development goals, peace and security.

The Summit’s main topics emphasized o­n setting of the framework: linking sustainable development and promotion of peace; gender equality and empowerment of women and girls; women, peace and security, in particular the focus of the meeting was the Parliamentary Roundtable session “Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality: Next steps” in which parliamentarians and leaders of organizations from 10 countries took part.

At the Parliamentary Roundtable, the international participants highly appreciated the sharing of VWU Vice President Tran Thi Huong about the achievements and experiences o­n gender equality in Vietnam, the Party and State orientations and policies to promote the position and role of Vietnamese women, VWU’s activities in the prevention of gender-based violence, women’s economic empowerment and enhancement of women in leadership as well.