BEIJING: China’s ambassador to the United Nations said President Xi Jinping’s speech at the high-level UN summit Thursday represents a major advance for the spirit of the Fourth World Conference on Women and demonstrates China’s ongoing dedication to advancing women’s rights and bridging gender gaps around the world.
“President Xi Jinping is invited to address the opening ceremony. This fully shows that China, as the host country of the Fourth World Conference on Women, has been playing a unique and important role in the global women’s cause,” said Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the UN, at a news briefing after the summit.
As part of the UN General Assembly 75th session’s high-level week, world leaders convened Thursday for a virtual meeting to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
Many heads of states attended the conference via pre-recorded videos.
Xi addressed the assembly at the opening of the Beijing conference, a meeting seen as a turning point for the global agenda for gender equality.
More than 17,000 participants, including 6,000 government delegates at the negotiations, attended the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in September 1995.
The conference resulted in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a global agenda for women’s empowerment that targeted 12 areas of concern and was adopted unanimously by 189 countries.
Zhang said Xi pointed out the challenges for gender equality and contributed Chinese wisdom to the global cause of women’s development.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
