Egypt's First Lady, Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, met the press on Friday on the sidelines of her participation to the Third Congress of the Arab Women Organisation. Mrs. Mubarak extended her thanks to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his spouse, Mrs. Leila Ben Ali, who presides over the Arab Women Organisation “with great competence and aptitude.” ‘‘Mrs. Ben Ali's term as AWO's Chairwoman witnessed intense activities, as illustrated notably by the holding of conferences and meetings aimed to gather optimum conditions for the promotion of Arab women and to help them fully assume their role,'' she said . ‘‘Tunisian women are models for Arab women. They are lucky, insofar as they have gained many political, social, economic and cultural rights,'' she added. Answering a question on her assessment of the initiatives taken by Mrs. Leila Ben Ali during her presidency, Mrs. Mubarak pointed out that “her presidency is not honorary, it is rather an effective one , during which she took several initiatives, issued a number of precious proposals and exerted momentous efforts”. ‘‘Arab women are proud of this work which is an active contribution to the promotion of Arab women's conditions,'' she said. On AWO's future strategy, Egypt's First Lady noted that each end of term of the Organisation's presidency, will be followed by an assessment of the gains achieved and the identification of the outlines of a new action plan for the promotion of Arab women's status.
