Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja is speaking at the 9th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Ministerial Conference on Women, being held in Islamabad from July 12 to July 13, joining leaders from across the OIC to advance dialogue on digital inclusion, women’s leadership, and equitable participation in the digital economy. The two-day conference is being held at the Jinnah Convention Centre under the theme Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of Women in the OIC Countries: Challenges and Way Forward.
Nearly 190 delegates, including ministers, senior officials, and representatives from the OIC’s 57 member states, are participating in the conference, marking the first time Pakistan has hosted the event. Key discussions at the conference are centred on improving women’s access to education, healthcare, employment, entrepreneurship, financial services, and technology, with the minister’s participation specifically bringing focus to the digital dimension of these broader empowerment goals.
As Pakistan’s only female federal minister, Khawaja’s participation carries particular symbolic weight at a conference focused on women’s leadership and equitable participation across OIC member states. Her remarks are expected to address how digital access and technology skills intersect with the broader goals of the conference, building on her ministry’s ongoing initiatives around AI capacity building, digital literacy, and women focused technology scholarship programmes that have expanded across Pakistan over the past year.
The conference is scheduled to conclude with the adoption of the Islamabad Declaration, expected to establish a shared roadmap for advancing women’s empowerment and supporting inclusive, sustainable development across OIC member states. Pakistan will also formally take over the chairmanship of the OIC Ministerial Conference on Women from Egypt for the next two years, following the previous ministerial meeting held in Cairo in 2021. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to address the conference’s inaugural session, with Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also expected to participate alongside Khawaja and a large number of women delegates and officials from across the Muslim world.
With around 940 million women living across OIC member states, representing close to half of the bloc’s total population, organisers have framed the conference as addressing both a social objective and a strategic necessity for the collective development of member countries. The minister’s presence at the conference adds to a series of international engagements she has taken part in over the past month, including Geneva Digital Week and meetings with foreign counterparts on digital governance, reflecting her ministry’s continued effort to position women’s digital inclusion as a core theme within Pakistan’s broader technology and telecommunications policy agenda.
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