Female parliamentarians from South-Eastern Europe agree to increase co-operation on gender with support from OSCE

TIRANA, 24 October 2008 - Female parliamentarians from South-Eastern Europe agreed to intensify their co-operation to increase women's participation in politics during a meeting in Tirana organized by the Albanian Parliament and the OSCE Presence in Albania.

"Using effective gender quotas and organizing cross-party parliamentary women caucuses are two important tools for achieving greater participation of women in decision-making processes," said Ambassador Robert Bosch, the Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania.

"In Albania, there is some optimism that the Electoral Code will promote more equal representation. Such a proposal should be rightly lauded as a major step forward. However, now this proposal has to be translated into more parliamentary seats for women."

Albanian Assembly Speaker Jozefina Topalli, emphasized the important role women have played in the transforming moments of the region and called for more efforts in promoting their values.

The meeting was held a day after the OSCE Presence hosted a forum where parliamentarians from Skopje, representatives from Albanian political party women's forums and two civil society coalitions discussed gender equality quotas in electoral codes. Participants agreed that women should work across political lines to promote gender equality.