By Gediminas Varanavicius, 

EU Delegation to Kuwait Charge d’Affaires 

KUWAIT: Tuesday marked Kuwaiti Women’s Day, a momentous occasion that celebrates the day Kuwaiti women secured their right to vote and run for office on 16 May, 2005. I would like to extend my congratulations to all Kuwaiti women on this important and historic anniversary. Kuwait has made great strides in the years since to promote women’s empowerment, including a decision in 2021 allowing women to join support services in the armed forces for the first time in the country’s history and another landmark decree in 2020 that saw women enter the judiciary.

Gender equality is one of the founding values of the European Union. We intend to strengthen our engagement with our Gulf partners, including Kuwait, to promote women’s empowerment even further through close cooperation with the government, civil society, and the private sector. Such cooperation is in line with both the EU Gender Action Plan III and the “Strategic Partnership with the Gulf”, which was released in May 2022 as a roadmap for broadening EU-GCC ties. 

Since opening in 2019, our delegation has organized a variety of projects as part of wider efforts to promote women’s empowerment locally. Later this year, we plan on organizing a trip for a group of Kuwaiti women leaders from a variety of professional backgrounds to Brussels. The visit will offer them an opportunity to engage with EU officials and experts, visit EU institutions, gain insight into the EU’s policies, as well as enhance dialogue between the EU and Kuwait. Women are key agents of development and change. Achieving gender equality and empowering women is vital to building fair, inclusive, prosperous and peaceful societies everywhere.