Jordan Times
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Arab women's summit opens Sunday in Cairo
CAIRO (AFP) — Arab first ladies will meet here on Sunday at a special Arab Women's Summit to mark the Year of the Arab Woman.Her Majesty Queen Rania, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's wife Suha, Laila Ben Ali of Tunisia, Sudan's Fatima Al Bashir, Sheikha Sabiqa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and Sheikha Latifa of Kuwait, will attend.
The summit will be chaired by Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egypt's head of state, according to the Egyptian government daily Al Ahram.
In the first Arab Women's Summit held in November 2000 in Cairo, representatives of the 22 member states of the Arab League decided to hold a biennial summit, plus an extraordinary summit to mark the newly-declared Year of the Arab Woman.
The first ladies of Tunisia, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt will speak at the inaugural session as representatives of countries that have hosted forums created by the first summit.
Discussions will cover the creation of the Arab Women's Organisation (AWO), plus the evaluation of the forums already staged and the agenda of coming meetings.
The AWO will be created under the umbrella of the Arab League, but will enjoy an independent financial and administrative status.
The organisation will have the task of coordinating the views of Arab women at international forums and of exchanging expertise on questions related to the condition of Arab women, according to the secretary general of the National Egyptian Woman's Council, Farkhonda Hassan.
Twenty Arab countries have approved the creation of the AWO, an organisation open to the Arab League member states as well as non-governmental organisations, who will be represented as observers, Hassan said, quoted by Al Ahram.