More dialogue needed for Middle East: Women Leaders Conference

May 30, 2007, 10:23 GMT

Vienna - A two-day conference uniting international women leaders in Vienna will aim at further establishing women's role in the Middle East peace process, Ursula Plassnik, Austrian foreign minister and conference host said Wednesday.

Speaking to press ahead of the conference, Women Leaders - Networking for Peace and Security in the Middle East, Plassnik said the meeting wanted to investigate what contributions women could make, offering a forum for dialogue and networking.

'The participants don't have any illusions about the topic,' Plassnik said, 'Our views are based on realism.'

There were no illusions that women in the region still had a long way to go, but networking could help making the all-important step from crisis management to crisis solution, Plassnik said.

'The Middle East is a region of crisis and conflict but also a region with much potential and opportunities,' Plassnik said. The region needed a lot more, broader, dialogue, coming from the societies and also going into the societies, she added.

The conference, which is being held Wednesday and Thursday at Vienna's baroque Hofburg onference centre brings together women in leading positions in politics, media, business and civil society. Participating in the main round table discussion on Thursday will be, among others, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Hannan Ashrawi, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Sheikah Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, President of the UN General Assembly.

On Wednesday, three workshops will discuss the role of the media, civil society, and the important field of business and education in the region.

The organizers cautioned however that the conference was not meant as a new attempt at developing a Middle-East roadmap for peace, but as a starting point for increased dialogue.