ECA Boss Advocates for Gender Equality

(PANA)--Gambian-born Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Abdoulie Janneh, on Wednesday advocated for women empowerment in Africa saying gender equality and women’s empowerment are very essential for achieving sustainable and inclusive development.

An ECA communiqué received by PANA said Mr Janneh, who is also UN Under -Secretary, was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Sixth African Development Forum (ADF VI) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The theme of the forum is ‘Action on gender equality, women empowerment and ending violence against women in Africa.’ The forum is jointly organised by the ECA, the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission.

For the ECA Executive Secretary, the theme of the forum ‘is very relevant and timely in the context of up-scaling efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date’. ‘It will also provide and enable us to lend support to the recently launched multi-year campaign of the UN Secretary-General to intensify action to end violence against women and girls, which will run from 2008-2015 to coincide with the target date of the MDGs,’ Janneh stressed.

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