Bulgarian VP Iliana Iotova to Attend Beijing Women's Summit

• Iliana Iotova, the Vice President, will travel to Beijing from October 13th to 15th
• She will participate in the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women
• The forum is called "One Shared Future: New and Accelerated Process for Women's All-round Development"

Iliana Iotova, Vice President of Bulgaria, will participate in the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women in Beijing taking place from October 13th to 15th, under the title "One Shared Future: A New and Accelerated Process on Women's All-round Development,"

The event is co-hosted by the Government of China and UN Women, and to a greater extent, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to be adopted by 189 governments, and to be certainly a key document for women's rights. The event also takes place on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 transformed the world in the advancement of gender equality and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action represents a baseline for many international policies and documents developed on women’s rights and gender equality.

At the forum, Vice President Iliana will report on Bulgaria’s accomplishments in gender equality policies, while also addressing the challenges that come with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence.

In Beijing, she will meet with the Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, Han Zheng.  She will visit the Beijing Foreign Studies University, which has had Bulgarian Studies since 1961 and has over 30 students this year.

Iliana will speak with president of the university, Jia Wenjian, and meet with students from the Bulgarian Studies program.  Iotova will deliver on behalf of President Rumen Radev the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius – First Class to a professor Ma Sipu in recognition of his contributions.

Professor Ma Sipu, who earned his degrees from Sofia University, specializes in Balkan studies and is centered on Bulgaria.

He and his students have actually published a two-volume Bulgarian-Chinese and Chinese-Bulgarian dictionary. The Vice President's program will also include a visit to the China Media Group and its Bulgarian-language department.