Brussels, 06/03/08: The European Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, made the opening speech at the International Women's Day Conference on the theme “Women: Stabilizing an Insecure World”.

In her speech, Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner emphasised the importance of addressing the impact that the new threats to security have on women and encouraged concrete steps to be taken in order to increase women’s contribution to human security at both local and international levels.

According to Ferrero-Waldner, the challenges to human security cannot be tackled without the contribution women make. “All humanity loses out if women are not empowered to play their part in building stability in our insecure world.”

Click here to read the press release