On 15 March 2016, the Mission of Mongolia to the United Nations organized an event "Realizing women's economic empowerment in rural areas through cooperatives and micro-enterprises" in cooperation with the Permanent Missions of Botswana, Fiji, Italy, Kingdom of Morocco, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands on side of sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 60).

H.E.Mr.Sukhee SUKHBOLD, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Mongolia, made opening remarks at the event  together with Mrs.Emma Bonino, former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy and high level officials from Morocco, Solomon Islands and Fiji.

The event moderated by Mr.Chernor Bah, an advocate for global education and a champion for girls, featured a distinguished and multinational panel consisting of Mrs.Esther Lungu, First lady of the Republic of Zambia, Ms.Elisa Fernandez, Fund for Gender Equality, UN Women, Ms.Amy Coughenour, International Cooperative Alliance and Ms.Fatouma Doumbia, Action to Generate and Integrate the Local Economy, Mali.

While presenting concrete examples of successful stories of women-led cooperatives and small enterprises, in particular in rural areas, panelists and participants exchanged their views on how to overcome financial and skills obstacles and on ways to accelerate implementation of the Agenda 2030 through women's economic empowerment.

Participants congratulated the co-sponsors of the event for organizing a meaningful substantive discussion involving representatives from a variety of countries  -  LDCs, SIDS, middle income and developed countries.