It is my great pleasure and honor to welcome you to the "Sixth Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics Congress." Thank you for being here this morning and for participating in our congress. Following the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women, many countries have been formulating systems and enacting laws to help women become more active participants in their societies. Some countries have made a positive contribution by giving women preferential treatment in the fields where women were "behind" to make the best use of women's power. However, despite some noticeable progress in recent years, women's political participation remains still very low including in the Asia-Pacific region. We, today, Asian-Pacific Women gather here to rectify this situation, to work together with great diligence, to identify the impediments against women's potential participation and to consider strategies to remove them once and for all. As I reflect and look back, the Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP), like a candle in the night, has been playing a critically important role in promoting women's political rights since it was founded in 1992. With a dream to promote leaders who had a transformative agenda. Willing to make a difference because they are women in politics understand what women, men they serve, truly need. CAPWIP has held the global Biannual regional congresses, workshops and training programs. We, CAPWIP have also established Common and individual strategies for expanding women's political participation networking with other women's organizations for political empowerment. Last night, I was with a few of you, having dinner. We got to talking about how our world has changed. We got to discuss about the girls in Nepal and India and about how they are being brought into prostitution thru trafficking at such a tender and early age. Poverty was cited the biggest reason for this. Today, we start another milestone. We are gathered