Jordan Times
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Queen to further media,
women's initiatives at WEF
AMMAN (JT) — As Jordan welcomes the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the Dead Sea,
under the theme “Seizing the Moment,” Her Majesty Queen Rania will seize the
opportunity to connect with key opinion leaders from public, private and civil
society institutions to increase momentum of key initiatives for women and youth
in the Arab world.
As the only Arab member of the WEF foundation board, Queen Rania's participation
in the forum, which will convene tomorrow, reflects her dedication to engage the
region and concerned groups and institutions in constructive dialogue and
cooperation.
Joining Arab youth at the “Youth and Entrepreneurship” session, Queen Rania will
deliver an address on Saturday illustrating a fresh perspective to youthful
thinking in order to build a brighter future. The interactive session will
tackle challenges facing youth in the region, together with the current
approaches governing youthful thinking.
The Queen will also chair the third meeting of the advisory board of the Arab
Women's Media Campaign, which invites major CEOs of Arab networks and chief
editors of newspapers, to start the process of building an organisation with the
aim of changing the stereotypes affecting Arab women and developing new creative
tools and measures to address women's issues.
As part of an effort to ensure that individuals have the appropriate tools to
enable them to become active contributors and productive citizens of their
societies, Queen Rania will also chair the first meeting of the MENA G-8
executive council on microfinance. The council will foster collaboration between
regional governments around a common agenda for opening up the financial sector
to the poor through microfinance. It will join the G8 in endorsing a set of
principles for advancing best practices in microfinance.
Representatives from regional government ministries, international donors,
commercial banks and leaders in the microfinance industry will attend the
session and adopt the establishment of a regional technical hub, based in Amman.
The hub will act as a coordinating body for microfinance in the Middle East and
North Africa Region and provide a resource and training programme for
practitioners in the field.
A panel discussion on women and the media is scheduled for Saturday, in order to
highlight the role of the media in addressing Arab women's issues. Queen Rania,
along with other regional and international figures, including US actor, Richard
Gere, Future TV CEO Nadim Munla, and Arabiya Chairman Abdul Rahman Rashid, will
discuss how the media should be employed more strategically to mainstream
women's issues and better serve as a means to portray such women as leaders,
experts and professionals.
Queen Rania's past participation at WEF:
Extraordinary Annual Meeting: Dead Sea, May 2004
Queen Rania interacted with several youth from around the Kingdom at a session
titled “Saving Youth.” The session was designed to tackle the challenges facing
youth in the MENA region and create opportunities for them on all fronts. The
session provided the backdrop for this year's “Youth and Entrepreneurship”
session, as it is a result of the Queen's call for integrating youth and placing
them centre stage at such forums and involving them in strategic discussions on
developing their communities.
Extraordinary Annual Meeting: Dead Sea, June 2003
Queen Rania participated in a session titled “Empowerment of Women,” which was
initiated by the Forum's Women Leaders Initiative and moderated by CNN
international correspondent Christiane Amanpour with the intention of exploring
issues relating to the participation of women in the social, economic and
political development process.
Annual Meeting: Davos, January 2003
Queen Rania attended her first WEF board meeting, and delivered a speech where
she stressed the need for what she called a “Peaceline,” which would bring
benefits of peace to regions in conflict. She noted that was a critical tool to
rebuild trust and provide for better lives for future generations. During the
forum, she also launched a discussion between Arab and Western women to
encourage cross-cultural dialogue and interaction.
Annual Meeting: New York, February 2002
Queen Rania took part in the meeting that saw the launch of the Women Leaders
Initiative, which seeks to foster greater participation and leadership of women,
integrating them in global dialogue and reinforcing efforts geared towards
encouraging them to work collectively.