Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri at the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo
Date:
UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri will visit Tokyo, Japan from 1 – 3 November to participate in the World Assembly for Women (WAW) 2017, an annual conference that convenes leading figures from around the world to share ideas and strengthen efforts to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. Ms. Puri will be presenting the key note speech, alongside Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank, and Maria Elena Boschi, Undersecretary of the Council of Ministers of Italy.
During her visit, Ms. Puri will meet with several Japanese government officials, including Mr. Mitsunari Okamoto, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Hironobu Narisawa, Mayor of Bunkyo-City, who is a strong supporter of HeForShe and hosts the UN Women Liaison Office in Japan.
She will also be meeting with Rui Matsukawa, the Secretary-General of the newly-created all-party “Parliamentary Group to Promote Women’s Empowerment Internationally,” a unique study group consisting of Japanese Parliamentarians, to discuss women and development issues.
Also during WAW, UN Women will present its new virtual reality film experience, which tells the story of Zainab Laqqat and her children, who fled their home in Syria to seek refuge in Beirut, Lebanon. A training programme by UN Women equipped Laqqat with skills to work in a beauty salon and rebuild her life. The programme is part of a Government of Japan-supported centre in Beirut that works to improve the lives and livelihoods of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese women.
Highlights
On 1 November, UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri delivered keynote remarks at the World Assembly for Women (WAW) 2017
During the first day of her visit, Ms. Puri met with government officials to discuss continued partnerships to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment. The Deputy Executive Director spoke with Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mitsunari Okamoto, and met with Director-General Gender Equality Bureau, Keiko Takegawa at the Cabinet Office, which has long been supporting the implementation of the Women’s Empowerment Principles in Japan.
She also met with Rui Matsukawa, who was the Director Gender Mainstreaming Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and now serves as a member of the House of Councillors. Ms. Matsukawa founded a parliamentary league for promoting gender equality internationally in July this year.
The Deputy Executive Director spoke with Hironobu Narisawa, Mayor of Bunkyo-City, Tokyo, about the close collaborations between Bunkyo-City and UN Women on various projects, including the upcoming International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November.
