SPEECH BY

SPEECH BY

Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng at the Opening Ceremony

Global Women Summit

5 June 2008

Distinguished ladies,

Dear friends,

It is indeed a great honor for the Vietnamese people in general and Vietnamese women in particular to host the 1 8th Global Summit of Women in Hanoi- the capital of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam. Allow me, on behalf of the Government and people of Việt Nam, to extend to all of you the warmest greetings of friendship and best wishes.

In the heart of each and every one, no matter where and when they live, mothers, wives, and sisters always constitute a noble and loving symbol because they help maintain the existence of humankind, bring up children and foster the happiness for each family. However, it is a paradox that for a long time in the history, women have suffered from injustice and discrimination and they were even humiliated and trodden on.

As a result of the persevere struggle of women themselves and progressive forces in the world, these unfair incidents have been step by step pushed back and women gradually emancipated to have equal rights and opportunities with men and make great contributions to the development and progress of humanity. In whatever sectors political, economic, cultural, art, scientific, educational or health, there always emerge eminent figures, who are women. Women are leaders of nations, important international organizations and famous research institutes. In the business sector, many of them have shown their nature of thriftiness, diligence, responsiveness and creativeness to become very successful businesswomen, contributing to the socio-economic development of their countries. Our summit today has brought together numerous exemplary women across the world.

From this august forum, we would like to express our deep admiration to all women for their enormous dedications.

However, we must admit that women in different parts of the world are still suffering from disadvantages, injustice and discrimination. In this context, the fact that women assembled in various forums to strengthen solidarity and cooperation in an effort to address global issues and move forward the struggle for the legitimate rights of women is very crucial and should be encouraged and supported by the progressive humanity.

Among those organizations and forums, the Global Summit of Woman, since its inception 17 years ago, has truly played an important role. This forum is very active in providing useful recommendations to leaders of Governments, states and organizations in order to protect the legitimate rights, ensure gender equality and improve the living and working conditions of women, and further promote the role of women in the society.

Choosing Việt Nam - an Asian country - as the host of this forum shows that the Global Summit of Woman attaches much importance to Asia as a continent "Driving the Global Economy" and to Việt Nam, a country that has made great contributions to the cause of peace, social progress in the world and a country that is always at the forefront to promote the women's position and role.

I believe that, with such a large turn-out, high level participation and interesting agenda, the Hà Nội Summit will mark a new step forward in the process of the Global Woman Summit.

Throughout the Vietnamese history of national defense and building, women always have an important role to play and many of them have become national heroines ạnd celebrities. In particular, Vietnamese women made a lot of heroic legends in our struggle for independence, national construction and development in the 20^th century. With those invaluable contributions, Vietnamese women, who are heroic, unyielding, warm-hearted and hard-working, are honored in their role as mothers, wives and sisters.

Since its establishment in 1945 and during the past decades, the State of Việt Nam together with the Communist Party has always paid special attention to the role of women and worked hard to ensure the gender equality and advancement for women. We also create favorable conditions for Vietnamese women to contribute to the common goal of building prosperous and strong Việt Nam with a just, democratic and civilized society. To that end, the State of Việt Nam has adopted the Law on Gender Equality, Law on Domestic Violence and other laws to protect women's interests. In addition, the 10-year national program on women’s advancement from 2001-2010 was launched and more than half of the goals have been fulfilled before schedule. In 2007, Việt Nam was recognized by the UN for its achievements in improving gender equality through the Gender Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM).

In Việt Nam today, women make up a major force participating in all areas of life and keeping important positions such as leaders of the State, Ministries, agencies and local governments. Women representatives account for 26% in the 12^th National Assembly. There are more than 1 million women entrepreneurs who own 25% companies and 30% small and household businesses. It is estimated that each female entrepreneur creates four jobs. A large number of women are running Việt Nam's leading businesses. Businesses led by women are very successful and they fully comply with the law, pay due attention to emploỵees' welfare, charity activities and make contributions to poverty reduction.

Việt Nam's achievements in national development and gender equality in recent years would not be possible without great efforts by the State and people of Việt Nam and the strong support and cooperation from international friends including women's organizations. On behalf of the Government and people of Việt Nam, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Governments, international organizations and businesses in the world for those warm sentiments and noble gestures.

I have learnt that in the agenda, we will focus on discussing the essential issues not only to women such as public-private partnership, economic opportunities for women; business and development opportunities for Asian women, development of small and micro-enterprises owned by women, IT development, poverty reduction, energy and environment. These are also the matters that the State and the entire people of Việt Nam pay attention to in the process of reform in order to improve gender equality and further bring into full play women’s role and position in the society.

I am confident that this Summit is a good opportunity to enhance mutual trust and understanding in our cooperation for the common goal of gender equality and advancement for women all over the world. The State and people of Việt Nam will continue to work hard toward this end.

With all my sincerity and respect, I wish the Summit a great success. I also wish you all health, happiness, success and an enjoyable stay in our country.