KARACHI, April 14: The Adviser to Prime Minister on Women Development, Senator Nilofer Bakhtiar, will formally inaugurate the Women’s Expo on Saturday.
The exhibition was to be inaugurated on April 13, but due to law and order situation in the city, it was rescheduled for April 15.
The idea behind the Women’s Expo is to develop an interactive platform for women to integrate the efforts of all concerned quarters working for women development and empowerment.
This interactive platform will help improve collaboration and bridge the gap between government, non-government and corporate sectors and the people.
The exhibition is being organized in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Development along with several other government and non-government organisations.
The Women’s Expo is being held in four halls of the Expo Centre with around 400 booths for exhibitors. Over 100 corporate sector exhibitors, 200 women artisans from rural areas and 100 women entrepreneurs from urban areas will be participating in the event.
A “Hunarmund Aurat” pavilion at the venue will be a significant site where women artisans from all four provinces will showcase their products directly for the end buyers.
Four trains from Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan have brought around 183 artisans while around 100 women artisans and entrepreneurs from Sindh will be participating in the exhibition.
The Balochistan Express has brought 50 women artisan from Quetta, the Karachi Express has brought 50 from Lahore while the Awam Express has brought 80 from the NWFP, FATA and the quake-hit areas.
The NWFP Minister for Women Development, Kashif Azam, will also visit the exhibition and represent his province.
Apart from an overwhelming response of Pakistani women, women from countries such as Britain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also shown keen interest in the women’s event.
The ministry of women development has received letters from expatriate Pakistani women appreciating this unique idea and showed their interest for participation.
The first two days of the expo are dedicated to Pakistani women where over a hundred thousand Pakistani women from all age groups classified as students, housewives and working women are expected to visit, meet and discuss their issues and concerns; celebrate their identity, achievements and individuality; mark their existence as an equal gender; and highlight their contribution in society and converge efforts towards women development and empowerment.
During the expo, experts from health and nutrition, education and training, beauty, fitness and home management will undertake health screenings, enlighten women about their multi-dimensional roles by way of presentations on successful women, women entrepreneurship training and skill development programmes, etc. — APP
