Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has held bilateral engagements with key international partners, fostering Nigeria’s commitment to advancing women’s empowerment, digital inclusion and inclusive development.
The Minister, on the sidelines of the 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women in Islamabad, Pakistan, themed “Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of Women in the OIC Countries: Challenges and Way Forward” met with Ambassador Tariq Ali Bakheet, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian, Cultural and Social Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Federal Minister for IT and Telecom, Pakistan.
During the meeting with Pakistan’s Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja, discussions focused on strengthening collaboration between both countries to create an enabling environment for women and girls to harness opportunities in the digital economy.
Areas of mutual interest included the development of digital gender policies, initiatives to support women’s digital skills training, promoting digital inclusion for financial empowerment, strengthening data governance frameworks, and creating safe digital spaces.
The engagement with the OIC Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Tariq Ali Bakheet centred on progress made in advancing women’s socio-economic empowerment across OIC member states. Discussions also focused on strengthening laws and policies that promote women’s economic participation and identifying possible areas of collaboration to accelerate progress.
The Minister urged stakeholders and member countries to intensify efforts towards creating sustainable solutions that enhance the role of women in economic and social development.
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Minister Sulaiman-Ibrahim again reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to working with the international community to accelerate progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment, expand opportunities for women and girls, strengthen families, and leverage innovation for inclusive development.
