Ambassador Ibsen Participates in UN Women Asia-Pacific Consultation

Ambassador Ibsen took part in the Regional Virtual Consultation with Development Partners on the UN Women Asia and the Pacific Regional Office’s Strategic Note 2026–2029. The upcoming five-year plan—the last before the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals—sets out four priority areas: women’s leadership and decision-making, women’s economic empowerment in resilient economies, freedom from violence for women and girls, and women, peace and security and humanitarian action.

UN Women underlined the urgent need to address the backlash against gender equality in the region and to work strategically to advance progress despite a challenging funding environment, rising humanitarian needs, and global political tensions.

In the discussion, the Ambassador emphasized the importance of engaging men and boys to ensure sustainable progress across all four priority areas. UN Women welcomed this intervention and congratulated Iceland on being the first country to issue gender bonds, noting the country’s interest in further cooperation with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on gender bonds.