1. The High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan (November 29-December 1, 2011) will hold 
the Special Session on Gender Equality shortly after the  opening ceremony on November 30 to 
discuss gender equality and women’s empowerment as a way to effectively facilitate development. 

2. The Special Session’s speakers will include US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 
Executive Director of UN Women Michelle Bachelet, and the ROK’s Minister of Gender Equality and 
Family Kim Kum-lae. 

3. The Special Session is led by the Republic of Korea and the United States to raise the awareness 
that gender equality and women’s empowerment in important areas, such as health care, education, 
and economy, are essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including 
poverty eradication and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to call for concrete action. 

4. The Busan HLF-4 is set to adopt the “Busan Joint Action Plan on Gender Equality and 
Development,” designed to collect the political commitments of various development partners on 
gender equality and women’s empowerment to be agreed in this Forum, including the Busan 
Outcome Document, to ensure the concrete and continued implementation of the gender-related 
commitments.

5. The ROK government plans to actively contribute to the implementation of the Busan Action Plan 
by closely cooperating with major donor countries, international organizations, civil societies, and 
businesses, as well as to share with the international community its experience of making 
significant progress in not only developing the economy but also elevating the status of women. 


                   Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFAT

* unofficial translation