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Ailyn Agonia
DOHA
AMBASSADOR of France to Qatar HE Eric Chevallier and his spouse hosted a reception at their residence on Thursday to celebrate International Women's Day.
The event gathered some of the most prominent women in the country, including former Minister of Information and Communications Technology HE Dr Hessa al Jaber, Founding Dean of College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Dr Amal al Malki and prominent Qatari businesswoman Aisha al Fardan.
Addressing the attendees, the envoy lauded the contributions of powerful Qatari women to their society in various fields and in continuously advancing women empowerment.
He also underscored the prominent role of women in Qatari-French relationship citing the recent visits of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, HE Sheikha al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani and HE Dr Hanan al Kuwari to France, which he said helped in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries in education, culture and health, respectively.
Ambassador Chevallier also emphasised the great importance accorded by France to promoting rights of women. He said that supporting women's rights is one of the priorities of the French president.
"France is a country which is really dedicated to ensuring women's rights. Today in Paris, we are launching our gender international policy which seeks to promote gender equality in all our international activities including political, strategic, development, economic, culture and education," the envoy said.
According to a statement from the Embassy, France's International Strategy for Gender (2018-2020) that was launched on the occasion of International Women's Day this year is the concrete international embodiment of the French president's commitment to make gender equality the great cause of his term. The strategy includes girls' education, economic empowerment of women and ensuring free and equal access of women and girls to rights and justice, and their protection from all forms of violence.
Also at the event, Ambassador Chevallier stressed that the celebration of women's rights should be a focus of the daily lives of both men and women.
"This fight for women's rights, for them to achieve what they want, what they dream of and what they would like to do, is a shared fight that we have to do together and women should be driving force behind it," he remarked.
