The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry celebrated the International Women’s Day to highlight the role of women in the economic development of the country. The theme of the event was “Empowered Women – Progressive Nation”. Parveen Khan Durrani, Honorary President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry chaired the event. She was made Honorary President of ICCI for one day in commensurate with the importance of International Women’s Day.

Speaking at the occasion, Parveen Khan Durrani said that women account for half of our total population but only 20 percent of them are participating in the formal economy, which shows that Pakistan is not utilizing the talent of 80 percent women to promote its formal economy. She stressed that the government should take strong measures to bring them into the mainstream of economy for their empowerment that would ensure the sustainable economic growth of the country. She said that empowered women would pave the way for progressive nation and stressed that the government should take steps for their economic empowerment. She said that the women have good potential to start businesses and emphasized that the government should announce special incentives for them in the upcoming budget to increase their financial inclusion for inclusive growth of the country.

Fatma Azim, former Senior Vice President ICCI, Nasira Ali and others also spoke at the occasion and stressed for creating a better ecosystem for women. They stressed the need of providing women equal opportunities in all fields of life so that they could play a more effective role in the economic development of the country.