First Ladies Meeting Takes Place in Vienna

A meeting with nine First Ladies and First Gentlemen is taking place today, Wednesday, at the Vienna Hofburg. The hosts are Doris Schmidauer, wife of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, and the Ukrainian President's wife Olena Zelenska. They have invited the First Ladies of Albania, Armenia, Estonia, Finland, and Guatemala, as well as the First Gentleman of Slovenia, to the all-day event.

Schmidauer and Zelenska Hosts of First Ladies Summit

Schmidauer and Zelenska opened the event in the morning together with Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger (NEOS). Former Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová was also invited as a speaker, in a panel on the topic of Geopolitical Developments in the afternoon. In three other sessions, discussions were to be held on the role of women in peace and security, protocol, as well as public diplomacy and soft power.

Armanda Begaj (Albania), Anna Hakobyan (Armenia), Sirje Karis (Estonia), Suzanna Innes-Stub (Finland), Lucrecia Villanueva (Guatemala), Tamara Vučić (Serbia), and Aleš Musar (Slovenia) exchange views at the "Workshop of First Ladies and Gentlemen" on how their respective roles are defined domestically, what resources they have, and what obstacles exist for their activities. Speakers included the Director of the Diplomatic Academy, Emil Brix, and Ursula Gamauf-Eberhardt, President of the Summer Academy of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Summit Not Held in Kyiv for the First Time

Zelenska arrived in Vienna on Monday with her husband Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She hosted the first summit of First Ladies and First Gentlemen in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in 2021, followed by three more annually, the most recent in September 2024.

(APA/Red)

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