November 4^th, 2002

    Meeting in this conference adds to my happiness, as it is the fruit of our persistent work over the past three years. This work has started in the 1st summit held in Cairo, 2000, ushering a new millennium. It was a crystallization of a change in thought, vision and planning and a positive result of reacting with the prerequisites of our modern age.

    This was best illustrated in the forums held in Bahrain, Tunis, Oman, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait for addressing the problems resulting from the woman’s relations with law, policy, media and economy. This is in addition to conditions of expatriate Arab woman.

    Those forums have been the practical assertion for what I called for in the first woman summit conference regarding the imperativeness of viewing the concept of the summit in its wider scope that is not restricted to the limits of official authority or governmental posts.

    Rather, it exceeds it to all female intellectual leaderships in our Arab world and the pioneers of women’s political, economic, social and scientific work. This came out of my fervent belief that our Arab nation has huge assets of efficient people that need to be discovered and their activities coordinated.

    Truly, these forums have represented an open invitation for every Arab woman capable of giving and willing to offer national experience for a better future. So, they succeeded in carrying on with the message of Arab woman summit conference ahead, embodying our belief in the importance of radically addressing our main issues out of a national springboard that recognizes unity of diversity.

    The forums confirmed the conclusions of the second summit conference of the importance of building permanent independent organizational and institutional framework conglomerating Arab women’s efforts all over the Arab World.

    Announcing of the project of the Arab Woman Organization (AWO) during the Extraordinary Woman Summit in Cairo in November 2001 constituted the crystallization of this project that was strongly welcomed in many Arab states. Accordingly, AWO became an action mechanism ready to take off within the scope of the strategic planning for the future.

    In fact, recognizing the significant role of AWO has crowned all efforts exerted since the first women summit, these efforts that derived from the experiences of the past and the problems of the present and the challenges of the future its momentum that made it go into unprecedented horizons of national action.

    It also resulted in the embodiment of a cluster of promising indicators, most important of which, I believe, is the great breakthrough that was realized in t he national action for the first time in our history represented in the first Arab woman summit that hosted huge number of Arab first ladies and female leaderships for the confrontation of contemporary challenges at national and international levels.

    This breakthrough was concomitant with a radical change that put the issues and challenges facing Arab woman on the top of scientific research and objective study, confirming our interest in scientific confrontation of current challenges and believing that upgrading our knowledge ourselves is the first step for solving a lot of problems still without solutions.

    Deep national awareness that shows in the Arab woman summit and forums went in parallel with her broad awareness of the vast world around her and stressed her living up to the challenges of today’s unprecedented changes.

    All these went in tandem with an awareness of the future based on belief that the issues of Arab woman are an integral part of the future issues. Also, there will be no development without the participation of the half of the society and there is no future without woman’s full contribution to portraying the features of the hoped for tomorrow.

Ladies and gentlemen,

    When I review what we have already achieved since 2000, I feel that but for the national will that set off unprecedented powers of feminine work, we would have not accomplished such achievements.

    I also feel proud that we are firmly going steady ahead towards a better future. We actually hope to eliminate retardation and strongly rush forward towards the endless peaks of progress.

    Truly we have full right to hope for a good morrow despite all impediments we face. What we achieved so far provides us with such power that drives us for more advancement. We should never hesitate or slow down or just get sufficed with what we done so far.

    The world around us moves speedily up to horizons bearing defying challenges. Hence, we have to be on full alert and continuous movement.

    Now, if I today feel optimistic while following up the marches stepped by the AWO, I look forward at the same time to the day when this organization contributes strongly in forging the advanced future of the Arab women and the entire Arab nation at large.

    I hereupon reaffirm the fact that I reiterated many times before; that our future depends on adopting clear-cut plans of all-out development at the individual Arab states level and at the Arab national level as well.

    Such comprehensive actual development can never be achieved without full participation of women. It is not a kind of luxury. Rather, it is a must for catching up with our modern age: that of data and media revolution which imposes drumming up all creative powers in the society, that of men and women indistinctively.

    The draft AWO project declaration at the Cairo extraordinary Conference is but an embodiment of such ambition and a pioneer step towards carrying out the target that is realized thanks to consolidated efforts of the Arab women.

    Undoubtedly, the AWO has turned to be a reality that raises hope everywhere in the Arab world. It is a positive act that seeks confrontation with our national problems on account of right, justice and equality and values of modernity and progress.

    The strategic planning for the future suggests new visions, new questions and new tasks. I think we are required to put into action the following aspirations:

    1. Necessity of ongoing backing of Arab woman’s role in all domains of national action. That means finding out every possible way to make use of the Arab woman’s potential being a great human power. Opening of the Alexandrina Bibliotheca resembled a wide pace in this direction. That inauguration revived the civilized past where the Arab women contributed as philosophers, thinkers and creative artists. Now they share actively in expanding the contemporary horizons of modern knowledge. All obstacles in the women’s share in the economic development should be removed. They must be given the right of equal wages that have been granted in some Arab countries but not in some others.

    2. Continuing liberalization of women’s thoughts and breaking all fetters impeding their creative potentials that add so much to the progress march. We can be assisted hereupon by our great heritage of Arab civilization in regard to estimation of the woman’s role and respecting her rights. Meantime, we should make use of the efforts exerted by our modern women in asserting culture of tolerance and freedom of creativity. This was also emphasized in the conference recently held in Cairo under the title “Arab Woman and Creation” where media means were urged to present a positive image of the Arab woman.

    3. Importance of eliminating the stark inconsistencies of the advancement levels in the Arab world. We dream of the day when the Arab woman would gain her full political rights in every Arab country.

    4. Necessity of the Arab woman being an active element in world peace and in facing war dangers and armed disputes. She should help replace conflict logic by dialogue and cooperation logic. As a mother, daughter and sister she can play a significant role in peace culture. Yet, the peace we are after is that based on justice not on imposing the status quo policy by force. Hence, we here reaffirm the cause of the just peace sought by the Palestinian people.

    5. Promoting coordination among Arab governmental institutions and Arab NGOs that proved effective in providing so many services for Arab women. All are asked to exert more efforts in this stage.

    We did not gather here just to boast of our achievements but to turn them into an impetus that help us break through the promising potentials of the future. That can only be achieved by working plan that is able to turn dreams into facts and rosy promises into executable programs.

    Allow me in the end to express my pride in presiding the Arab Women Summit for two successive times. I deeply believe that the national action is the shortest way for all-out facing of the Arab women problems.

    I am quite glad today to hand the presidency of this summit to Queen Rania. Certainly, she will do so much to the national action. I heartedly hope every best of luck for all our Arab peoples.

    May God Almighty bless us all and congratulations on approach of the month of Ramadan.