New measures to advance global women's cause

President Xi Jinping announced on October 13 a slew of measures, including China's donation of an additional $10 million to UN Women over the next five years, to support the global women’s cause, as leaders and representatives from across the world gathered in Beijing to renew their collective pledge to promote women's development.

- Mo Jingxi reports

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women, Xi said that China will earmark a quota of $100 million in China's Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund for implementing development cooperation projects for women and girls in collaboration with international organisations.

In addition, China will launch 1,000 “small and beautiful” livelihood programmes with Chinese assistance that make women and girls priority beneficiaries, he said.

The two-day meeting was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, which adopted the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a milestone document in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment.

Over the past three decades, guided by the spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women, the cause of women has been thriving around the world, with equality between men and women now a universal consensus of the international community.

However, women’s all-round development still faces complex challenges such as war and conflict, and extreme poverty, as well as violence and discrimination.