[ 2012-07-14 ]

African women's economic summit begins in Nigeria
LAGOS (AFP) - Creating better opportunities for
women is key to Africa's economic development, a
Nigerian minister said Friday at the opening of a
two-day African women's economic summit in Lagos.

"If you invest in women, you are investing in
humanity," Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a
respected economist and a former World Bank
managing director, said at the summit's opening.

The meeting was organised by the non-government
group New Faces, New Voices, in conjunction with
the African Development Bank.

"We are missing a very good opportunity in Africa
if we don't invest in women and the girls,"
Okonjo-Iweala said.

African states need to address high maternal
mortality, lack of education, gender inequality
and a lack of access to political power if women
are to attain economic progress, she said.

"Why is it that every 10 minutes, a woman dies at
childbirth? We have to find an answer to this,"
she said.

Several women chief executive officers, bankers,
industrialists and gender activists are expected
to deliver speeches at the meeting.

Source - AFP

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