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Akbar Novruz

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The Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies and UN-Habitat Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Arab States, Lamia bint Majid Al Saud has praised the 13th session of the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku as an important global platform for exchanging urban development experience, knowledge, and successful policy approaches.

Speaking to AzerNEWS on the sidelines of the forum, Princess Lamia shared her impressions of the event and highlighted the importance of international cooperation, women’s empowerment, and broader collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.

"General impression, it’s impressive. The amount of work, energy, structure, and partnerships is remarkable. It’s a great platform to understand different concepts, do's and don’ts, and successful methodologies for us to adopt," she said.

"At the end of the day, we are here to exchange and share knowledge. Besides the weather, it’s been very successful," she added.

Commenting on the role of women in urban development and housing resilience, Princess Lamia stressed that women play a central role both within families and across society.

"Let’s look at it from two angles. First of all, the woman, the mother, who prepares the family for whatever type of housing or situation, whether it is disaster-related or settlement camps. She is the one setting the mentality and preparing the family. She is the provider. She can literally structure everything around herself and around her family," Princess Lamia added.

She also emphasized the growing role of women as active economic contributors and decision-makers, particularly in the Middle East.

"The rate of diversity and women’s participation in our part of the world is increasing every day. She is responsible for providing for her family, and the first thing, as we said, is the house," she noted.

According to Princess Lamia, one of the main priorities of Alwaleed Philanthropies is supporting women through economic empowerment initiatives.

"One of the biggest areas of focus in the foundation is providing economic empowerment for women. We provide different types of empowerment, but we really concentrate on economic empowerment because we believe this is how you give women freedom," she said.

"She is free with this money to invest in her children’s education, open a business, invest in a house, invest in a car — whatever she wants. The woman is always the orchestrator of providing the needs of the household, whether she is married or not," Princess Lamia emphasized.

Addressing the prospects for deeper cooperation between Riyadh and Baku, Princess Lamia expressed confidence that closer collaboration could contribute to broader regional stability and social development initiatives.

"Absolutely. We saw many success stories and lessons learned here, especially regarding women’s affairs and how women are incorporated into society as active members," she stated.

"I believe the hardest job is being a mother, and you cannot resign from it at the end of the day," she added.

Princess Lamia also noted that there is significant potential for future cooperation between Saudi and Azerbaijani institutions.

"We learned a lot, to be very honest, and there is huge room for collaboration. Inshallah, as Alwaleed Philanthropies, we have already collaborated with your beautiful country before, and definitely we will collaborate more in the future," she concluded.