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Vilnius – a venue for women world leaders’ discussions

Monday, June 27, Vilnius - Leading women of the world will gather in the Presidential Palace on 30 June for the Conference Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices organized on the initiative of President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė and President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen.

Among the participants of this women's high-level conference hosted in Lithuania for the first time ever will be President of Finland Tarja Halonen, President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva, President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga, President of Mongolia Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Speaker of Albania's Parliament Jozefina Çoba Topalli, Speaker of Latvia's Parliament Solvita Āboltiņa, Slovakia's Prime Minister Iveta Radičová, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also EU, UN and OSCE representatives, members of foreign national parliaments and governments, human and women's rights activists, and NGOs.

"I am very happy to welcome in Lithuania so many prominent women whose experience and achievements are an inspiring example to all women of the world. Vilnius will become a global focus centre, a venue for discussions on the most sensitive issues of democracy and equal opportunities, the results of which will provide guidance on how women's rights could be enforced and protected in the world," President Dalia Grybauskaitė says.

Women world leaders will discuss ways to enhance women participation in political, economic and public life and to ensure equal opportunities of self-expression and career as well as measures to combat violence and trafficking in human beings.

This high-level meeting is organized in cooperation with the Council of Women World Leaders, the Community of Democracies, the European Institute of Gender Equality and other international organizations.

On the day of the Conference, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will have bilateral meetings with Mongolia's President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson, and Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lene Espersen.

On 1 July, President Grybauskaitė will have meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallstrom.

The Conference will be broadcasted live on the webpage www.prezidente.lt.

Programme of the Conference, with notes for the media

Please note that permanent accreditations of the media to the Presidential Palace will not be valid for June 30 and July 1.

June 30, Thursday

Media representatives can collect their accreditation cards on Thursday, June 30, between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning, at the Administrative Building on Universiteto g. 3.

8.30-16.00 Arrival of Conference participants at the Presidential Palace (S. Daukanto a. - Pool 1)

(Special place will be reserved on the S. Daukanto Square for media representatives to cover the arrival. Media representatives who will work on the S. Daukanto Square (Pool 1) will not be allowed into the White Hall to cover the opening of the Conference (Pool 2)).

09.30-10.45 Opening of the Conference Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices (White Hall - Pool 2.)

(Special place will be reserved in the White Hall for media representatives to cover the opening ceremony).

Remarks by:

• Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania

• Tarja Halonen, President of Finland

• Saadia Zahidi, Director and Head of Constituents at the World Economic Forum (Davos), Women Index

• Sima Samar, Chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission

• Lilia Labidi, Tunisia, Minister of Women's Affairs, to be confirmed

• Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-At-Large for Global Women's Issues, US State Department

11.15-12.45 Session A: Women's Economic Independence (White Hall- Pool 2)

• Supporting women entrepreneurs

• Women's economic empowerment in emerging democracies

• Legal system and use of quotas

• Role of education in transitional societies

Panelists:

Elbegdorj Tsakhia, President of Mongolia

Iveta Radičová, Prime Minister of Slovakia

Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Parliament, Latvia

Eva Biaudet, Ombudsman, Finland

Selima Ahmad, President of Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bangladesh

Mahnaz Afkhami, Academia, Iran

Dalia Leinartė, Academia, Lithuania

(Special place will be reserved for media representatives to cover Sessions A and B).

12.50-14.30 Session B: Combating Violence against Women and Human Trafficking

• Women in conflict zones (UNSC resolution 1325) and in transitional societies

• Domestic violence

• Challenges in emerging democracies

• Role of NGOs and women leaders

Panelists:

Roza Otunbayeva, President of Kyrgyzstan

Atifete Jahjaga, President of Kosovo

Jozefina Çoba Topalli, Speaker of the Parliament of Albania

Christine Bako, Member of Parliament, Uganda

Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN

Swati Chauhan, Judge, India

Ana Temkina, Academia, Russian Federation

Cindy Dyer, Vital Voices Global Partnership

14.30-15.00 Joint press conference of the Presidents of Lithuania and Finland (Press Conference Hall)

17.00-17.30 Closing of the Conference (White Hall- Pool 2)

(Special place will be reserved for media representatives to cover the closing of the Conference).

Remarks by:

Margot Wallstrom, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Tarja Halonen, President of Finland

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania

For more information, contact Živilė Didžgalvienė, Advisor to the President, tel. + 370 698 42308.

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