New Delhi, July 17: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said that empowerment of women is central to achieve the objective of inclusive, equitable and sustainable development. He further insisted that women empowerment is not only a national goal but also a global agenda.

The Vice President's comments came while addressing the gathering after inaugurating the International Conference on 'Empowering Women: Fostering Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability' organized by the NITI Aayog and Shri Ram College of Commerce.

"Empowerment of women is central to achieving the objective of inclusive, equitable and sustainable development and it is not the only national goal but a global agenda. Women have been doing exceedingly well in higher professional education and so we need to ensure their commensurate participation in the formal economy," Naidu said.

"Women's active participation in decision making has a positive impact on education, health, nutrition, employment and social protection," he added.

Naidu also stressed that lack of equal access to education and employment, inequalities in the labour market, rising sexual violence and unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work remain the key barriers to the advancement of women.

NITI Aayog's Women Entrepreneurship Platform and Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, have jointly organised the two-day conference which saw representation from countries across various continents.

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