The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), in collaboration with the Good Neighborliness, Friendship, Cooperation Commission (GNFCC) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the People's Government of Fujian Province, hosted the China-Central Asia Women's Development Forum in Xiamen, a city in Southeast China's Fujian Province, on September 9-10. The forum was themed "Women and Sustainable Development." Shen Yueyue, Vice-Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, President of the ACWF, and President of the GNFCC SCO, attended the forum and addressed the keynote speech.

Shen said Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the 10th China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, giving great motivation to develop stable and enduring relations between China and Central Asian countries, which will surely lead to fruitful results in friendly cooperation among women of China and Central Asia. In May, President Xi chaired the China-Central Asia Summit, reached consensus with State leaders from five Central Asian countries to develop China-Central Asia relations and deepen cooperation in all fields, which marked embarking on a new journey of building a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. Shen noted hosting the women's development forum was an act to implement the spirit conveyed in Xi's congratulatory message and the spirit of the China-Central Asia Summit. It is significant that women from China and Central Asian countries express — via such a forum — their expectations for sustainable development.

Given the importance attached by and the firm leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with Comrade Xi at its core, Chinese women's undertakings have achieved historic progress during the first decade of the new era. The 20th CPC National Congress (held in 2022) drew a magnificent blueprint for advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, which opened a promising future for the advancement of women's all-round development, Shen added.

Shen stressed that transformations of the world unseen in a century are unfolding at a faster pace, and working in solidarity is the only way to deal with and tide over various difficulties and reach win-win results. China and Central Asian countries are facing similar problems and challenges in women's development. Shen said she sincerely hoped Chinese women will make joint efforts with sisters from other countries to implement earnestly the important consensus reached by State leaders of China and the five Central Asian countries. The women in the six countries will actively implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and they will uphold solidarity and mutual trust and help promote people-to-people connectivity.

Shen also hoped women's strength will be pooled to advance common development, strengthen international cooperation, to advance the progress of women's undertakings, and contribute women's wisdom and power to deepen cooperation in the building of the Belt and Road Initiative, to boost regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, and to build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.

Distinguished speakers who addressed the forum included: Zulaykho Makhkamova, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan; Akjemal Durdyyeva, Chairperson of the Women's Union of Turkmenistan; Firuza Giyasova, First Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs of Tajikistan; Zamira Akbagysheva, President of the Congress of Women of Kyrgyzstan; and, Shakhrat Nuryshev, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to China. Ozoda Parpibaeva, Chairperson of the Committee for Family and Women of Uzbekistan, and several other experts delivered thematic speeches on "Women and Sustainable Development."

Xi's congratulatory message aroused warm feedback. Many of the forum's attendees said women will make contributions to advance China-Central Asia cooperation, and they expressed their willingness to deepen people-to-people exchanges with China, enhance mutual learning and sharing of good practices, and build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. The China-Central Asia Women's Development Forum (Xiamen) Initiative (the forum's outcome document) was adopted unanimously.

Zhao Long, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and Governor of Fujian Province, and Zhang Ming, Secretary-General of the SCO, delivered speeches. Lin Yi, Vice-President and Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, presided over the forum and read the outcome document.

The women's development forum was an important side event within the framework of the 10th China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum. More than 120 participants, including women leaders from five Central Asian countries, heads of women's institutions or organizations, experts and scholars, diplomats from the SCO Secretariat, the five Central Asian countries' and SCO members' embassies in China, women international students in Xiamen, and representatives from relevant departments, women's federations and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, attended. The participants also visited an exhibition highlighting China-Central Asia women's friendly exchanges.

(Source: Liaison Department of the All-China Women's Federation)