Jordan Times
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Women Business Leaders Summit
opens
Queen attends reception for participants
AMMAN (JT) — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday attended a reception and lunch
hosted by the International Women’s Forum (IWF) Jordan chapter for the
participants in the Women Business Leaders Summit, which opened yesterday.
Fifty women business executives from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates
and 50 women business leaders from the US are sharing their experiences and
exchanging best practices in a variety of panel discussions. On the sidelines of
the reception, Queen Rania also met with US Undersecretary of State for Public
Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, who is participating in the summit.
The US cosponsored the event to encourage the role of women as full and equal
partners in the economic and social development of the region, according to an
American embassy statement.
The summit is a public-private sector outreach programme designed to facilitate
links between American, Jordanian, and the broader Middle Eastern business
communities.
As part of this two-way exchange, the Arab businesswomen will travel to the US
in the spring to visit American partner companies and exchange views on
management styles and business skills.
They also will meet with senior government officials and members of Congress in
Washington, DC, and attend special programme sessions at Georgetown University.
The summit is co-chaired by Hughes, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, chairman of the
American Red Cross, president and CEO of Pace Communications and former US
ambassador to Finland and Luma Kawar, wife of the former Jordanian ambassador to
the US, Karim Kawar, and founder of the professional women’s chapter of IWF
Jordan.
In partnership with the US Department of State, the summit is being supported by
Abercrombie and Kent, the Arab Bank, the Housing Bank for Trade and Finance, the
IWF, the Marriott Corporation and Procter and Gamble.