Dr. Sania Nishtar, SAPM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection said that the Pakistani women were very talented, goals-oriented, risk taker and entrepreneurial, therefore, the current government was taking multiple initiatives for enhancing their role in the development of the country. She said that many components of Ehsaas Program were dedicated to empower the women and uplift their living standards. She said that the 50 percent plus agenda of Ehsaas programs was aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged women and girls. She said that empowerment of women was beneficial for society and the economy and the government was determined to lift 7 million poorest women in Pakistan out of poverty and help them achieve their potential. She asked ICCI to join hands with Ehsaas program for further betterment of women in society. She was addressing as Chief Guest the International Women’s Day celebrated at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).  Mishal Hussain Malick Chairperson Peace and Cultural Organization, Salma Marwat Khan Jeep Rally Champion, Nasira Begum a self-made woman entrepreneur, Ayesha Gull ASP Traffic Police Islamabad, large number of women from all walks of life including university students participated in the event.
At this occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry along with Dr. Sania Nishtar SAPM to PASS, Fatma Azim Senior Vice President and Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI inaugurated a digital portal for women titled “ShEmpower”. The portal will provide various services to women entrepreneurs including promotion of their businesses, enabling them to participate in virtual events, providing them information about business registration procedures and helping them in capacity building through various training programs.
Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President ICCI said that women were over half of the country’s total population and bringing them in the mainstream of economy was very important to realize the actual economic potential of the country. He said that currently less than 10 percent women in Pakistan have access to financial services and urged that the government should adopt financially inclusive policies for women to improve their economic empowerment. He pointed out that the access to finance was a major problem for women in Pakistan in starting businesses and emphasized that the government should come up with low cost credit schemes for women entrepreneurs that would ensure their economic wellbeing and reduce poverty from society. He said that ICCI has recently held an e-commerce summit to help businessmen and businesswomen in starting online sale and added that ICCI would also take initiatives to organize exhibitions of businesswomen products besides holding programs to enhance their connectivity and networking so that they could further promote their businesses and could contribute more effectively towards the economic development of the country.
Mishal Hussain Malick, Chairperson, Peace and Cultural Organization highlighted the challenges being faced by the women in Indian Held Kashmir and called upon the international organizations and the world community to play a role for the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people so that their women could also achieve better economic empowerment.
Fatma Azim Senior Vice President ICCI, Ms. Salma Marwat Khan and other speakers also highlighted the role of women in the development of the country and called upon the government to take policy measures for financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women that would help the country to achieve fast economic growth.  A musical program was also organized at the occasion with Ms. Elizabeth Rai Singer as main performer.