Visit the WPL Annual Global Summit 2017 website
Women in Parliaments – part of the Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL) – announced that the 2017 WPL Global Summit will be hosted, in cooperation with the Althingi, Iceland’s Parliament, in Reykjavík on 28-30 November.
This year’s Global Summit theme of “We Can Do It!” is intended to reflect the growing drive for empowerment among women in political leadership positions around the world.
WPL Founder and President Silvana Koch-Mehrin and Iceland’s Parliamentary Speaker (President of the Parliament) Unnur Bra Konradsdottir, said in a joint statement, “Iceland is the global champion of gender equality and home of the first elected woman President. By welcoming female Parliamentarians, Ministers, Prime Ministers and Presidents from all parts of the world, it underlines the importance it attributes to more women in political leadership.”
Silvana Koch-Mehrin added, “WPL is delighted by Iceland’s hospitality and political support for the Summit. I am convinced that the Summit will provide a unique opportunity to showcase the Icelandic way to gender equality, as well as providing a forum for exchange on political best practice and experience, leading to impact on legislation and political agenda setting.”
Icelanders made Vigdis Finnbogadottir the world’s first democratically elected woman president in 1980. Finnbogadottir, who served longer as president than any woman from any country, will be specially honoured at the 2017 WPL Global Summit, in cooperation with the Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL). Twenty years ago, Finnbogadottir co-founded CWWL, whose membership today is composed of 63 current and former heads of state and government.
Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Lithuania and current chair of the CWWL, said, “We are pleased to partner on the WPL Global Summit in Iceland, a country which is a global leader in advancing women’s rights and gender equality. With her personal example, President Finnbogadottir continues to inspire women around the globe to take the responsibility of leadership and strive for their goals.”
Past Global Summits have each attracted several hundred female Parliamentarians and other senior politicians from around the world to the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium; Kigali, Rwanda; the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Mexico City, Mexico; and Amman, Jordan.
Watch the promotional video about the WPL Annual Global Summit 2017:
Watch the video of the WPL Annual Global Summit in Jordan 2016:
