Dutch embassy hosts networking event marking Int’l Women’s Day

AMMAN — The Dutch embassy on Monday hosted a networking event to celebrate International Women’s Day and its Shiraka Alumni Network, the country's flagship knowledge exchange programme for the MENA region.

The event was attended by HRH Princess Dana Firas and over 70 alums and leading women from various sectors, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In his welcoming remarks, Dutch Ambassador Harry Verweij shed light on the importance of International Women’s Day to evaluate the progress made in the fight against gender inequality.

Verweij commended Jordan's recent efforts in political and economic modernisation and the special attention paid to gender inclusion, expressing readiness to support these plans and continue to work with partners on bridging the gaps.

The ambassador also announced that the Netherlands has recently adopted a feminist foreign policy, further reaffirming the country's commitment to contributing to a better, more just world in which women and men have equal rights and opportunities.

The envoy welcomed alums of the Dutch-funded Shiraka programme.

Since the programme's establishment in 2012, more than 500 Jordanian government employees have been trained in the Netherlands, Petra said, citing an embassy statement.

The embassy said that the Netherlands is offering another 10 courses for Jordanian civil servants in 2023 alone, in addition to two tailor-made government-to-government programmes that will take place this year.

The first will train young Jordanian diplomats in the Netherlands for three weeks, and the second will focus on Jordanian female judges, added the statement.

The event was an opportunity for the embassy to meet with its network and for the alumni to reconnect with one another and meet their peers from other cohorts, the embassy noted.