Plumbly on Woman’s Day: We Hope 2013 Polls Will Yield Stronger Women Representation in Lebanon

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly lamented on Thursday the poor number of women in official state positions in Lebanon.

He said after holding talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour: “Let us hope that the 2013 parliamentary elections will result in a stronger participation and bigger representation of women in the political field here in the future.”

He said on the occasion of International Woman’s Day: “This is something that should concern all of us today.”

He noted that since his assumption of his position in January, he has not had “a single meeting with any official, minister, or political leader who is a woman.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to note the achievements of women here in Lebanon in the fields of culture and business, for example,” added Plumbly.

The talks with Mansour also tackled the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

He informed the minister that he will be travelling to New York soon in order to attend a U.N. Security Council meeting on March 21 aimed at discussing U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s report on the resolution.

In addition, Plumbly and Mansour addressed the developments in Syria with the minister travelling to Cairo to attend Arab League meetings on the crisis.

Plumbly later held talks with former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora.