Minister Haj Hassan to empower women’s capacities and encourage them to take initiatives

The Industry Minister Dr. Hussein Haj Hassan noted that the Arab World needs to promote and empower the capacities of Arab women in general, and those of the Lebanese women in particular, at all levels, with a special focus on the economic part. He said women should be motivated to take initiatives and set up their own enterprises that enable them to “contribute to alleviating unemployment, poverty and illiteracy, while at the same time raising the standards of living for their own households, mainly in rural areas.” Haj Hassan was speaking during a conference organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Italy, in collaboration with the Italian  Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Organization for International Cooperation (OIC) and the No Peace Without Justice Organization (NPWJ) on the empowerment of the economic role of women in the MENA region. Dr. Haj Hassan also underlined the urge to inspire small and medium enterprises that help in the development of women. “Training and exchange of expertise and technology with UNIDO and OIC are of utmost significance and should be expanded along with the communication networks between women entrepreneurs in our region and their peers in Italy and Europe in general ,” the minister said. “We should understand that the genuine development of women cannot be separated from the overall economy of nations, societies as well as from the local, regional and international economic policies,” Dr. Haj Hassan noted. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, October 16, 2015)