The conference is under the patronage of Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Heads of government, ministers, MEPs, leading representatives of international organizations, heads of research centers and universities, world-famous personalities from politics, business, science and the media – this is just a part of the impressive list of prominent women leaders who arrive in Bulgaria to participate in the upcoming Global Womens Leaders Forum.

The event, which will take place May 18 – 20, 2016 in Sofia, is organized by the Council of Business Women in Bulgaria and UNESCO under the patronage of the Director General of the organization and the official candidate of Bulgaria to head the United Nations, Irina Bokova.

The forum’s aim is to highlight the role of women in modern society, social and economic life and to propose steps to achieve genuine gender equality. To cover all aspects of the theme, the program of the event is divided into thematic panels covering the place and the role of women in politics, business, media, education, science and innovation.

Gold sponsors of the international forum are Siemens Bulgaria and “Prestige -96” and silver – EY Bulgaria and SAP. Media partners are NOVA TV and  Manager magazine. Among the companies supporting the event are BMW Bulgaria, Katarzhyna Estate, Coca-Cola, Generali Bulgaria, etc. Grand Hotel Sofia hosts the forum.

Participation in the Global Women Leaders Forum requires registration, which can be made on the site: gwlforum.womeninbusiness.bg.

Who are the participants and panelists?

Leading politicians, economic leaders, top names in science and innovation will discuss in Sofia the societal benefits of the active involvement of women and the providing of opportunities to realize their potential.

Bulgaria will be represented at a very high level. The Speaker of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, Tsetska Tsacheva will participate at the official opening of the forum. Together with the senior managers of leading local and international companies in Bulgaria and globally recognized foreign guests, ministers from the Bulgarian government will join the Global Women Leaders Forum. Among them are Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Meglena Kuneva, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova.

Special guest at the closing ceremony will be the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova.

For the opening of the Global Women Leaders Forum the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina will arrive in Sofia on May 18. Sheikh Hasina has an important role in establishing democracy in the country. Because her activities she was repeatedly arrested and there have been at least 19 assassination attempts against her. She has won numerous international awards, including the UNESCO Houphouet-Boigny Award for Peace in 1998, the “Mother Teresa” award and the award for peace in the name of Indira Gandhi in 2009. Sheikh Hasina has won the highest UN environment honors “Champion of the Earth 2015” in the political leadership category.

International institutions and organizations are presented by Mara Marinaki, adviser on gender equality at the European Foreign Service, Sagnier Gyulser Corat, director of the Department for Gender Equality of UNESCO, the Director of the International Research and Scientific Institute the progress of women at the United Nations Carmen Moreno, members of the European Parliament Iskra Mihaylova (Bulgaria) and Maria Spiraki (Greece) and others.

The global academic community also participates strongly in the forum. It is represented by professor Liu Jinan , honorary president of the University of Communications of China, professor Gyulsun Saglamer , Rangita de Silva de Alwis , Dean of International Programs at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and many others.

In the event program the topic of women in culture and the media has a special place. Among the participants are the famous Turkish journalist Gila Benmayor, winner of the “Pulitzer ” award for photojournalism Renee Bayer and sculptor and vice – president of the World Center of female artists in Amman, Jordan, Hevda Ser.

The former Prime Minister of Senegal Aminata Toure, the president and co-founder of the organization Geneva Call Elizabeth Warner and chairman of the National Committee of Greece to UNESCO and the Center for Women and Peace in the Balkan countries to UNESCO, Ekaterini Tzitzikosta complement the list of VIP participants and panelists .

This is the first high-level international forum of its kind dedicated to the issues of women leaders of which Bulgaria is a host. In April 2016 Bulgaria adopted the Act on Equality between women and men the Council of Business Women in Bulgaria was invited to consult and participate in its preparation.

The entire program of the Global Women Leaders Forum and the full list of participants are available on the website of the event gwlforum.womeninbusiness.bg.