Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- At the proposal of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, put forward at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Asian Women’s Forum was held in Samarkand on 13-14 May on the topic “Regional approach in issues of economic, social and political empowerment of women.”

On the second day of the prestigious forum, the participants continued their work to exchange experiences, study modern approaches of international organizations and financial institutions, dividing into such parallel sessions as “Regional aspects of the elimination of all forms of violence against women and children: preventive measures to eliminate their negative impact on social -economic development of the country”, “Advanced experience, practice and innovative approaches of non-governmental organizations of the region in protecting the rights and interests of women”.

Some 30 distinguished guests, representatives of foreign countries and international organizations - women members of the parliaments of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, heads of government, representatives of more than 40 representative offices of foreign countries in our country and foreign organizations highly appreciated the event held in our country to work towards gender equality.

Undoubtedly, thanks to the high political will of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, issues of ensuring the interests of women, gender equality and the strength of families have become one of the priority areas of our policy.

In this regard, the participation of women in socio-political, economic and spiritual life, and in making important decisions, is significantly expanding.

In a short period of time, a national legislative framework in this area that complies with international standards has been formed. A striking example of this is the adoption of more than 80 legal acts over the past 5 years.

Important laws “On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men” and “On the protection of women from oppression and violence” were adopted and put into practice.

Concepts such as gender expertise of legal acts, adoption of a gender-based national budget, and gender audit are being introduced into legislation and practice.

During the forum, the increasing role of women in the upper and lower houses of the parliament of Uzbekistan, among deputies of local Kengashes, and in executive bodies was also emphasized. It was noted that today a class of women ministers, deputy ministers, khokims and deputy khokims, heads of large non-governmental non-profit organizations has appeared, and their number is growing every year.

The Gender Strategy for the period until 2030 was adopted in order to adjust the gender equality policy and ensure its full implementation. Work on its implementation in all industries and sectors is in full swing.

During the dialogue during the two-day forum, proposals were developed to increase the activity of women in all spheres of economic, political and social life, and efforts and opportunities were analyzed in this regard.

Issues on removing obstacles and creating opportunities for women's economic empowerment, including ensuring equal pay, assessing efforts to create favorable conditions for women's entrepreneurship in Asia, and identified future goals were also discussed.

At the end of the forum, based on the results of negotiations and discussions, the Samarkand Declaration was adopted.