The D-8 Meeting on Rural Women Empowerment was inaugurated today with participation from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey and some international organizations namely, APRACA, UNDP, UNICO, ECO, UNID and FAO on 17 November 2014 in Tehran, Iran. 

Dr. Mollaverdi, Vice President of Women and Family Affairs of Iran, Mr. Hajiya Zainab Maina, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Talebi, Chairman and CEO of the Agriculture Bank (the host), Mr. Bizmark, the D-8 Commissioner of Iran, and Dr. Mousavi, the D-8 Secretary-General were among the dignitaries present during the inauguration of the event. 

The dignitaries delivered their statements in the opening ceremony and afterwards, in course of the proceedings of the meeting, the Agenda was adopted and Nigeria was elected as Rapporteur. 

The meeting, in its two-day course, is expected to discuss the progress made by the D-8 Member States in Rural Development as well as exchange experiences, best practices, rural women employment, job creation, access to information through internet infrastructure and banking with better financing package and capacity building schemes etc. 

The meeting is a very good occasion for the D-8 institutions working in rural development to work together and create mutual collaboration between D-8 governments and private sectors in order to enhance the role and productivity of our rural women, reinforce initiatives for rural areas development and promote further prosperity, equity, and justice.