‘CDA to support, empower businesswomen’

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Capital Development Authority (CDA) Amer Ali Ahmed here on Wednesday said that women are hardest hit by the pandemic and we will try our best to provide them relief as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to empower women. The pandemic has made things harder for women particularly those involved in business and those facing poverty due to multiple reasons, he said.

Talking to a delegation of women entrepreneurs led by the founder President of Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce (IWCCI) Samina Fazil, he said that the pandemic has pushed many working women out of employment reversing decades of progress. Worldwide, 740 million women work in the informal economy and their income has fallen up to 70 per cent, he observed. It is estimated that maternal deaths have increased by 39 per cent poor countries and 13 million more child marriages are projected to take place by 2030 due to school closures and because of increased poverty reversing the gains of the last 20 years of global progress made on girls’ education.

Amer Ali Ahmed said that CDA will try its best to support businesswomen as the majority of them are related to the services sector. We will provide space for an office and a display center to IWCCI and try to accommodate as many women entrepreneurs as possible.

He agreed to the allocation of space in F-9 Park or any other suitable place where IWCCI can conduct two day exhibition thrice in a year. At the occasion, Samina Fazil and other members of the delegation lauded the initiatives of CDA to remove encroachments, combat pollution, providing relief to traders, investing heavily in industrial areas of Islamabad and Kahuta and efforts to make Islamabad a model city. She said repair of roads and rehabilitation of parks should be preferred and the issue of traffic congestion should be resolved so that the Capital city can become liveable again.