The Spouse of the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Ms. Maja Ivanova, is paying a visit to the People’s Republic of China on the occasion of her participation at the International Forum on Women and Sustainable Development, organized by the All-China Women’s Federation. The Forum is held in the capital of China, Beijing, in the period 9 -11 November 2011.

Ms. Ivanova had the honor and pleasure to address the opening ceremony of the International Forum on Women and Sustainable Development, foreseen as a pre-event of the UN Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio +20 Summit, planned to be realized in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, marking the twentieth anniversary of the first UN Summit on Sustainable Development, the Earth Summit, organized in Rio in 1992. This Forum in Beijing is planned to provide a special contribution to the summit scheduled for the next year in the context of sustainable development, but seen in terms of gender equality and mainstreaming, being the key components of the sustainable development concept in the world.

The President’s Spouse addressed the opening ceremony of the Forum, being distinctly pleased to open the event along with the Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Mr. Xi Jinping.

Ms. Ivanova, in her address, reiterated the readiness of the Republic of Macedonia to give its national response to the international obligations and exert effort to unite all positions, activities and resources into a coherent framework and single approach for achieving gender equality, adopting the 2007-2012 National Plan Action on Gender Equality. She also noted that the basis of this strategic document is in many international documents, such as the Beijing Platform and Action Plan, the Millennium Development Goals, the obligations arising from the process of European integration and adjustment and alignment of the Republic of Macedonia to the European Union and other international obligations, which confirmed the commitment of our country in this area. She emphasized that the Republic of Macedonia is committed to equitable representation of women in every segment and every field, confirmation of which is the fact that women have guaranteed one third participation in the citizen's representative bodies of the Republic of Macedonia at national and local level, in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and in the municipal councils.

Furthermore, she described the woman as an equal stakeholder in the social trends, noting that women leaders manage to address the social needs, to initiate social action, and at the same time to preserve the family and traditional values. She emphasized that exactly this gives a new dimension of sustainable development, where sustainability is translated into a woman and that a woman is the one who embodies unity, who balances between reason and feelings, capable of facing success and defeat - a woman who is the leader of today.

At the end of the speech, Ms. Ivanova said that despite the evident progress, we can conclude that achieving this lofty goal has not yet been fully and properly complied with, that there are still many challenges on that path. Therefore, she called upon joint and coordinated activities of all participating countries, supporting the adoption of the Declaration on Women and Sustainable Development, planned for the closing ceremony of the Forum.

Ms. Ivanova met Ms. Chen Zhili, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Chairman of the All-China Women's Federation. The meeting was used to recall all past implemented activities and possible future forms of cooperation among women's organizations from both countries, confirming once again the excellent cooperation with friendly China in every segment and every field of mutual interest. More than 300 dignitaries from countries all around the world took part at this forum, including representatives from Fiji, Uganda, Albania, Russia, India, U.S. and many other, as well as international organizations, senior representatives of governments, ministers, UN officials, academic institutions, private sector, media, non-governmental organizations.