May 3 (SeeNews) - Serbia's deputy prime minister and head of the government's gender equality coordination body, Zorana Mihajlovic, has become a member of the World Bank Group's Advisory Council on Gender and Development, the government said.
Mihajlovic was invited to join the council with an official letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva, the Serbian government said in a statement on Wednesday.
"I am honoured to be able to contribute to the very important process of promoting gender equality and strengthening the position of women around the world. In the last four years, Serbia has put gender equality among the priority areas of structural reforms and public policies," Mihajlovic said in the statement.
The role of women in public and political life, as well as their engagement in the field of entrepreneurship, diplomacy, science, culture and the media, is of great importance for improving the position of women and fighting for gender equality, Mihajlovic said.
The World Bank Group's Advisory Council on Gender and Development is the main external consultative body helping the World Bank Group promote gender equality, a prerequisite to the Group's goal of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. The Council meets twice a year to consider progress on, and constraints to, gender equality globally, and to provide feedback and advice on the World Bank’s work in the area.
In November 2013, Serbia became the eighth member state of the Council of Europe to ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.