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The ASEM conference “Women’s Economic Empowerment: Creating Equal Opportunities in the World of Work” ended on 26 May in Vilnius. The conference adopted Vilnius Declaration on ASEM cooperation in the field of women’s economic empowerment.

The ASEM member states agreed to launch and expand the Asia-Europe dialogue on gender equality, particularly on women’s economic empowerment, to share best practices and experience in creating better conditions to promote gender equality in everyday life, politics and, especially, in the labour market.

Lithuania initiated this new Asia-Europe dialogue with an aim to draw attention to the need for international cooperation in order to achieve progress towards gender equality.

“Unfortunately, there are still many places around the world where the equality of men and  women is not a given. This is a long process in which countries must help each other,”  said the Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania co-organized the event with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour of Lithuania and Mykolas Romeris University. The conference has the political support of the Philippines, India, Japan, China, Croatia, Mongolia, Romania, Sweden and Vietnam.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was launched in 1996 in Bangkok. It aims to foster dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe. Presently it comprises 53 partners –  31 European and 22 Asian countries.

Lithuania joined ASEM in 2004 during the ASEM summit in Hanoi. The country has previously organised events on transport and nuclear safety issues under the ASEM framework.