Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In Washington, a delegation of Uzbekistan led by Chairwoman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, head of the Republican Commission on the Advancement of the Role of Women in Society, Gender Equality and the Family Tanzila Narbayeva held talks with senior adviser to President Joe Biden on the White House Gender Policy Council, Rachel Vogelstein; and Director of the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Affairs, Katrina Fotovat.

During the meeting, the American side got acquainted in detail with the activities of the Republican Commission on the Enhancement of the Role of Women in Society, Gender Equality and the Family, which in a short time carried out purposeful work to ensure the rights and interests of women, gender equality, the development of women’s entrepreneurship, employment, and improvement of conditions their life and work.

The White House representative praised Uzbekistan’s efforts to promote gender equality, strengthen the role of women in decision-making, improve their health, provide access to education and professional development, and counter domestic violence. Separately, she emphasized the importance of initiatives to expand economic opportunities, including women’s entrepreneurship and home work. In this context, Rachel Vogelstein welcomed the adoption of the Strategy of Uzbekistan to ensure gender equality and state-funded national programs to support women.

The practice of conducting gender expertise of draft legal acts, the process of introducing gender budgeting and maintaining gender statistics were also discussed. The adviser welcomed the adoption of laws in Uzbekistan aimed at combating gender-based violence, emphasizing that this issue is in a separate focus of personal attention of President John Biden and Vice President Harris, as evidenced by the recently renewed US Violence Against Women Act.

In turn, Director of the Office of Global Women’s Affairs of the State Department Katrina Fotovat also confirmed that the United States intends to continue supporting Uzbekistan’s efforts to implement gender policy. She noted the possibility of implementing projects aimed at supporting women’s entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas.

The prospects of joint efforts within the framework of the "women and climate change" agenda through the implementation of joint initiatives to improve women’s health, especially in the Aral Sea region, were noted.

Emphasizing the interest in jointly promoting the gender agenda in the C5 + 1 dialogue format, the State Department representative also supported the initiative to hold the C5 + 1 Women’s Business Forum in Uzbekistan with the participation of women business leaders from the United States and Central Asian countries.