Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Of The Republic Of Indonesia: There Will Be No Development In Afghanistan Without The Role Of Administrative Women

Director General of Asia Pacific and Africa of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdul Kadir Jailani (left) when giving a statement. (VOI/Fauzi)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government is of the importance of advancing women's education and empowerment in Afghanistan, in order to advance prosperity and fight poverty in the country.

Realizing this, Indonesia and Qatar will hold an International Conference on Afghan's Women Education (ICAWE) on December 8 in Bali.

Director General of Asia Pacific and Africa of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdul Kadir Jailani explained that education for women in Afghanistan currently faces serious challenges, among others due to poverty, limited infrastructure and Afghan human resources, as well as several policy issues from the current Taliban authorities.

He further explained that Afghanistan's education and empowerment of women play an important role in advancing prosperity and fighting poverty in Afghanistan.

"The government is of the view that there will be no peace, there will be no development in Afghanistan without the role of adequate women. Therefore, we consider it important to hold this conference," he explained to his media Jakarta, Friday, December 2.

"The holding of this conference is a concrete contribution from Indonesia, in encouraging peace and development in Afghanistan," continued Abdul Kodir Jailani.

He further explained that the holding of this conference could not be separated from the signing of a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Qatar, regarding the provision of humanitarian and development assistance for the Afghan people which was signed on March 26, 2022.

"The holding of this conference is one of the implementations of LoI," said Ambassador Abdul Kadir Jailani.

He explained that a number of representatives of countries and international organizations were expected to attend, such as Qatar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Norway and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, a number of special envoys on the Afghan issue from a number of countries and international organizations, including the United States and the OIC will participate

"Outcome from this conference is a declaration of support, reaffirming the support of conference participants to encourage education and promote women's empowerment in Afghanistan," he said.

Asked whether this conference invited representatives of the Afghan Government/Taliban or not, Abdul Kadir Jailani said, "so far no, because our target is that at that meeting later we will consolidate and raise international support, especially for financial support, provision of stamparship and so on, to advance women's education and empowerment in Afghanistan".