Int'l cooperation minister, UNFPA official discuss means to combat population growth

Minister of International Cooperation Sahr Nasr conferred on Wednesday with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative Alexander Pedroza on means of boosting cooperation between the two sides, especially as regards population growth combat which is considered one of the challenges facing Egypt in the current phase.

The minister's adviser for UN affairs Yara el Abad attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the minister asserted the importance of coordination between UNFPA and relevant UN organizations in the field of achieving sustainable development.

The UN representative, for his part, asserted that UNFPA is working on supporting the right of women, men and children to have equal opportunities and healthy life.

He said UNFPA intended to help Egypt in conducting population statistics for the programs of poverty combat, sustainable development as well as helping the most needy categories.

The UN official also probed the recent media campaign launched by the National Council for Women (NCW) in cooperation with UNFPA under the slogan of “Taa Marbouta is your strength” to support women in the political, cultural and social aspects as well as combating harassment.

“Taa Marbouta” campaign was launched on October 2 in a celebration held at the Cairo Opera House. The campaign aims to promote women’s social, political and economic empowerment in Egypt.

The celebration brought together current and former women ministers, policy makers, media, women rights advocates, different government and non-government stakeholders, UN agencies and NCW representatives as well as popular figures and celebrities.

“Taa Marbouta” refers to an Arabic alphabet that indicates the feminine conjugation in the Arabic language, and is associated with several powerful words in the Arabic language such as “culture,” “dignity” “power” and “willingness”. The slogan of the campaign is “Taa Marbouta is not your restriction, it is your strength”.

Source: MENA