News

International conference “Women’s Entrepreneurship in the OSCE Region: Trends and Good Practices” will take place on 3-4 March in Vilnius.Experts and entrepreneurs will explore trends and good practices, will discuss how women’s entrepreneurship could boost the economic growth in the OSCE region, and will provide examples of good practices in various OSCE countries.

It is also planned that participants will examine innovative solutions and examples of good practices in the private sector to promote women’s entrepreneurship and economic reforms that aim at strengthening women’s economic position in some OSCE countries.

The conference will dedicate special attention to the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, including Afghanistan.

The event will be attended by representatives from various women’s organizations, associations and Ministries of the OSCE countries.

The conference is organized by the OSCE Gender Section in co-operation with the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour, and the Gender Studies Centre at Vilnius University.  The event is funded by Andorra, Germany and the USA. The conference will take place at Vilnius University.  

Lithuania actively supports and promotes women’s equality and entrepreneurship.

On 11-12 April 2010 in Vilnius, Lithuania hosted a convening meeting of the Working Group on Gender Equality of the Community of Democracies. The participants of the meeting outlined the main directions for activities and agreed to implement projects in line with identified priorities. Every six months the project leaders share progress reports. They plan to present final reports and recommendations of the working group during a ministerial meeting of the Community of Democracies, which is due in July 2011 in Vilnius.

Lithuania chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011 and the Community of Democracies until July 2011.

In June 2010, the European Institute for Gender Equality was opened in Vilnius. This is an European Union’s agency, which supports member states and EU’s efforts to promote gender equality, the fight against discrimination based on gender and to raise the awareness of gender equality issues among EU citizens.