TETOVO, 6 September 2023 – Strengthening global partnership and taking collective action to further promote gender equality across the OSCE region was the focus of the first Chairpersonship’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Conference, which took place on 5 and 6 September in Tetovo, North Macedonia.

The Conference, initiated and organized by OSCE 2023 Chairpersonship of North Macedonia, convened OSCE leaders, ambassadors and high-level officials from the OSCE participating States and partner countries at a two-day event, hosted by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani. They were joined by representatives from the private sector, academia, civil society and other international organizations, discussing how participating States and partners can work together to make societies more inclusive by creating new opportunities for women’s economic, social and political empowerment.

The conference addressed specific challenges, from bringing women’s perspectives in peace and security to the forefront and ensuring their participation in peacebuilding and conflict management, to supporting women’s leadership across all fields of political and public life.

“It is more important than ever as we deal with even more complex threats to peace, stability and security in the OSCE region to ensure that women are playing meaningful roles, in decision-making, and across all the walks of life, including in the political and security sectors. We need practical actions,” said the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani.

In her opening remarks, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid reiterated that “promoting women’s inclusion in all aspects of political and public life is today more important than ever.  As the OSCE, we are taking action, for example with our Networking Platform for Women Leaders including Peacebuilders and Mediators.”

“It is crucial to include women’s equal voices, participation, and representation in all spheres of foreign policy to accelerate transformative change in the advancement of gender equality as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda. The time for action to guarantee peace and gender equality through Foreign Policy is now,” said Elisa Fernandez, UN Women Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.