The conference gathered representatives of 38 countries, nine international organizations and nine NGOs and businesses, along with nine prominent women figures and academics in Bali on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that as the first-ever international conference on the matter, the conference aimed to update on the situation in Afghanistan and to reaffirm support to all Afghan people and to the rights of women -- in particular, education.

The conference also aimed to identify and gather resources to support women’s education in Afghanistan and design the ways forward for the issue, she added.

She cited the United Nations Women, which found more than 11 million Afghan women and girls are in need of humanitarian assistance while the UN Development Program estimated that US$1 billion or 5 percent of Afghan GDP could be lost from the restrictions put on women.

The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index 2021 puts Afghanistan last out of 156 countries.

“With this situation, we cannot choose to remain idle, we must do something,” Retno said in a statement after the conference on Thursday.

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