Summary

Istanbul Summit 2014 brought together world’s most prominent women to discuss UN Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Around 300 participants from 45 different countries representing ministries, international organizations, civil society organizations, public and private institutions, academia and media gathered for the first Istanbul Summit. The conference facilitated an environment to share knowledge and experience on eradication of poverty, environment, climate change and energy, women’s empowerment, health, education, sustainable economic development, peace and good governance issues. The Summit started with a welcome reception that also hosts the Peace Projects 2014 Grants Award Ceremony. In the first day of the Summit, keynote address was delivered by Ms. Nafis Sadik, Special Adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS and Ms. Navi Pillay, UN Human Rights High Commissioner followed by four sessions. Second day started with seven working groups and a parliamentarian roundtable followed by a plenary session titled “Making the New Sustainable Development Agenda Work” and finished with the announcement of the Final Declaration, Working Groups Outcome, Call For Action of the Parliamentarians, Participants had a chance to experience the beauty of Istanbul, announced as the top travel destination of the world by Trip Advisor’s 2014 Travelers’ Choice, with a cocktail cruise along the Bosphorus.

Istanbul Summit Team would like to thank all speakers, moderators, participants, and observers for making the Summit such a successful event. Special thanks to our keynote speakers Ms. Nafis Sadik, Special Adviser to the Executive Director of UNAIDS and Ms. Navi Pillay, UN Human Rights High Commissioner. We would also like to thank in particular both ministers, members of parliaments, first lady and distinguished representatives of the CSOs. Our special thanks to Mr. Andrei Abromov, UN ECOSOC NGO Branch Chief, Ms. Chantal Line Carpentier, Sustainable Development Officer and Major Groups Coordinator, Prof. Barbara Adams, Senior Policy Advisor of the Global Policy Forum, Dr. Smita Tewari Jassal from Middle East Technical University and Ms. Tamar Manuelyan Atınç, Visiting Scholar from the Brookings Institute for their contributions to the Final Declaration of the Summit.