Olena Kondratiuk, the vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, had a task meeting with the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security Clare Hutchinson.
Olena Kondratiuk thanked Mrs. Hutchinson for her participating in the Third Ukrainian Women's Congress and noted the important role of Ukrainian women in strengthening Ukraine's defence capability, protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country. She also expressed Ukraine's interest in implementing NATO's experience in the spheres of security and defenсe, as well as gender equality standards.
In her turn, Clare Hutchinson noted Ukraine's considerable progress in securing gender equality. “I am extremely pleased to be here and see the progress that Ukraine has made. You have really done a lot in recent years. From its part, NATO will continue to help promoting women's issues in the security and gender sectors,” she then stressed.
According to the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative, Ukraine is already above the average of many other countries in terms of the number of women in civilian and military professions. Therefore, it is very important now to focus not on the quantity but on the quality, the implementation of a gender component in specific reforms and state policies.
From her part, the vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine reminded that the Ukrainian parliament had recently voted for holding a 2020 NATO PA spring session in Kyiv.
"We are already beginning our preliminaries for this event and would like additionally to propose holding a special conference “Women, Peace and Security” within the NATO Assembly in Kyiv," Olena Kondratiuk clued up.
For her part, Mrs. Hutchinson supported that idea.