Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey has said the promulgation of the new constitution will effectively address the issues relating to gender equality and promote women empowerment.

The South Asian region has common issues and problems when it comes to women empowerment and entrepreneurship, and that common initiatives can be taken to address them, the Foreign Minister said at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day conference on “Advancing Women’s Entrepreneurship in South Asia”, organised by the South Asian Women’s Development Forum (SAWDF) in partnership with the South Asia Women’s Entrepreneurs Symposium.

“Traditional laws, lack of resources, lack of awareness and illiteracy are some of the key factors preventing women empowerment in the region,” Pandey said.

“I believe, a conference like this will help encourage entrepreneurship and economic empowerment of the women,” he added.

Saarc Secretary General Arjun Bahadur Thapa said the issues related to women have started to get prominence in the Saarc region, and that an inter-governmental platform to support gender equality and women empowerment is a must.

“South Asia is the least integrated region in the world. Much needs to be done for making a tangible impact,” Thapa said.

SAWDF President Pramila Acharya Rijal requested the Saarc Secretary General to have representation of the SAWDF in the SAARC Technical Committee on Women, Youth and Children, as it is important to involve stakeholders working on gender issues through regional institutions such as the SAWDF.

“A tripartite partnership between the Saarc Secretariat, SAWDF and international institutions for developing regional projects, and invitation to at least one

business leader affiliated to the SAWDF from each country to participate in the SAARC Summit can be other initiatives to empower the women,” Rijal said.

According to the SAWDF, the main objective of the two-day regional conference is to identify and prioritise various issues on entrepreneurship and economic empowerment of women to build a common strategy for promoting women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship.

The conference will see attendance of 40 delegates from the Saarc region, and Myanmar.