Opening Remarks

our expert speakers and moderators distinguished guests friends welcome to this year's Abu Dhabi Finance week programming on women in finance my name is Amelia Pierce I'm the deputy director of operations at the Atlanta council's ruy career center for the Middle East and I'm also the deputy director of the women innov Fellowship a 9-month program for female entrepreneurs from the Mina region it's my distinct pleasure today to welcome you to what I hope will be a meaningful and thought-provoking afternoon our topic today women's participation and leadership in the financial sector particularly in investment is not just timely but critical to the economic and social future of the Mina region re research has time and again illuminated the critical relationship between women's economic participation and a society's overall stability prosperity and resilience when women have the freedom and opportunity to choose their economic Future IT uplifts entire neighborhoods entire communities entire societies and yet in many parts of the Mina region systemic barriers continue to prevent women from accessing Economic Opportunity including in the financial sector whether as professionals shaping the industry or as entrepreneurs seeking investment to grow their business this is not an issue unique to this region women face these issues in every corner of the globe to varying degrees but we have the opportunity today to examine how these barriers manifest specifically here and what women themselves are doing about it the numbers speak for themselves the Mina region has one of the lowest rates of female Workforce participation globally at the same time everyone in this room knows that the region also has immense untapped potential its women are more educated Innovative entrepreneurial and ambitious than ever the challenge is not one of capability but of access this is why talking today about investment and finance matters we need systems that work for everyone Frameworks that assess not only risk but also opportunity informed by a gender lens and we can unlock transformative growth across the region gender responsive investment is not just an ethical imperative it's a smart strategy for investors who want to maximize returns while fostering sustainable development our discussion today will focus on precisely these issues we will examine successful investment strategies explore how they can be adapted to the unique contexts of the Mina region and discuss what it will take to ensure that women in finance can Thrive As Leaders decision makers and change makers I encourage all of us today to think expansively what bold ideas and actionable strategies can we Champion what can we how can we move from conversation to implementation and most importantly how can we ensure that women are not merely beneficiaries of investment but active drivers of financial transformation across the region with that I want to just again thank our esteemed speakers and all of you for joining us it's such a pleasure to have such a packed house your participation underscores the importance of this issue and everyone's insights will no doubt enrich the dialogue so let's get started please allow me to introduce our first Speaker today Her Excellency Ambassador Martina strong Ambassador strong currently serves as the Ambassador to the of the US to the UAE a career Foreign Service Officer Ambassador strong previously served as Char defair in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as Deputy Deputy Chief of mission in Bulgaria her diplomatic career has spanned 27 years and included two assignments in Iraq as the political Minister counselor in Baghdad and as the US Army's political adviser in Basra earlier in her career Ambassador strong was posted in po Poland the Czech Republic Barbados Bosnia heroina and France she spent 2 years as director on the National Security Council at the White House where she headed the US government's multi- agency effort to organize the 2004 G8 Summit in SE Island as well as two other G8 Summits and various multilateral meetings Ambassador strong is the recipient of the meritorious presidential rank award numerous Department of State Awards and both the meritorious civilian service award and the superior civilian service award for her service in Iraq in Bulgaria the defense minister conferred on Ambassador strong the meritorious service medal for her contributions to the US Bulgarian security partnership we at the Atlantic Council are deeply grateful for ambassador's strong steadfast partnership and support particularly of the women innovators Fellowship Ambassador strong am