Irina Bokova, former director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visionary leadership in promoting women's development, highlighting the remarkable achievements China has made in this regard.
The praise comes ahead of the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women which will be held in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday. President Xi will attend the opening ceremony of the meeting and deliver a keynote speech.
Recalling her first visit to China three decades ago, Bokova noted that the China's remarkable achievements are closely linked to the contributions of women.
"Well, I did mention that first I visited China in 1995. It was to attend the Women's Conference. At the time, it was my first acquaintance with the Forbidden City, with the Great Wall, or with the Chinese culture and civilization. Even now I have seen China rising," she said.
For years, Xi has emphasized the importance of women's development by actively supporting and encouraging women to pursue their dreams and achieve success.
A decade ago, Xi attended and addressed the Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment at the UN headquarters in New York, saying "as the Chinese people pursue a happy life, every Chinese woman has the opportunity to excel in life and make their dream come true."
Xi's speech has left a lasting impression on Bokova, who has observed the advancement of women's cause in China.
"I think President Xi, and I would say China overall, understands very much the importance of Women's empowerment," she said.
Bokova also expressed her admiration for the significant attention given to women's development across China under Xi's leadership, acknowledging the efforts China has made in supporting women's advancement.
"It was the summit in 2015, I remember that President Xi stayed for two hours, more than two hours, all the time during this very high level (event), testified to the importance that he dedicated to the cause of women, of empowerment of women, of importance of the Beijing Platform of Action. I know there is a lot of support for technical vocational training for women. There is a lot of support for women in sciences. It is the fact that China is putting in the heart of its development, actually the human factor, it's human development. And without outreaching also to women, without focusing on women, China would not have succeeded in lifting out of poverty more than 800 million people since 1990. And what is really extraordinary is that with the human development reports that every year the United Nations is publishing it, China is the only country that has moved from the low development country into high development country, just in the span of less than 30 years," she said.
With great anticipation for the upcoming meeting, Bokova hopes Xi will reiterate the importance of empowering women.
"I expect President Xi will speak about the Beijing Conference on Women, Peace and Development, and the 30th anniversary and the importance once again to accelerate the empowerment of women in the world," she said.
Bokova also commended Xi's exceptional leadership, particularly his forward-looking vision in leading China to address global challenges.
"I think good leaders are those who are not just aggrandizing themselves, but good leaders are those that can convince others to follow them, and I think President Xi has this capacity to lead others," she said.
"President Xi came and he had this vision of the Chinese dream and how to build the country. And what is, I think very important, is that when I listen to his speeches and when I see his ideas, there have been different initiatives that have been launched with the time. I think what is remarkable is that he understands the world, he understands very well the challenges in the world and how to lead China and to adopt policies and to make a forward-looking, I would say, strategies further down, taking into account developments in the world," said Bokova.
Bokova, who has read Xi's writings, also praised his insights on governance.
"I like reading memoirs, books of world leaders. Of course, I have read a compilation of very interesting articles there. And I think if someone wants to understand the development of China and the thinking of President Xi Jinping, I would strongly recommend also to look at the book," she said.
Former UN official hails Xi's visionary leadership in promoting women's development in China
