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Lake Toba to host G20 women’s summit in July
Lake Toba has been selected to host this year's G20 women's summit amid growing uncertainty over attendance following calls from member countries to boycott Russian participation.
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Women leaders in government and the nongovernmental sector virtually attend the inaugural meeting of the G20 Women 20 (W20) forum on Dec. 22, 2021. (Courtesy of Communications and Information Ministry/-)
The Lake Toba region in North Sumatra is to see some of the world’s most influential women in July, after the popular tourist destination was declared the host of a high-profile Group of 20 meeting.
The Women 20 Summit, which focuses on developing solutions for empowering women as part of the series of events under Indonesia’s G20 presidency, is to be held from July 19 to 21 in the city of Parapat in Simalungun regency.
A number of global figures are set to descend on Lake Toba in three months, including Melinda Gates, cofounder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Queen Rania of Jordan and Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway, according to Hardiani Uli Silalahi, the chair of the Indonesian Women’s Congress (Kowani) who has been appointed the chair of the W20 Summit.
Uli said that aside from the female ambassadors of countries like Canada and Australia, the summit also expected to welcome other female leaders, such as Sima Sami Bahous, executive director of the United Nations agency for women’s empowerment (UN Women), World Bank managing director Mari Elka Pangestu and Women’s World Banking CEO Mary Ellen Iskenderian.
They were all invited as speakers or participants to a series of international seminars that would specifically look into core issues on women’s empowerment and the economy, she added.
“The priority issues that will be [explored] at the W20 include gender-based discrimination and equality, economic inclusion, women on the margins and [women’s] health,” Uli told reporters on Wednesday in Medan, following a meeting on the summit.
She underlined the importance of the W20 Summit in determining the solutions it would recommend to the world’s biggest economies in this year’s G20 declaration.
