 Okej, everyone, if I can have some quiet, we have practiced this, Ulrika, so they get quiet really quickly. I'm very pleased to go straight on and present Ulrika Modir, state secretary for international development cooperation from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Ulrika, the floor is yours. I will just change one slide please. Thank you. Do you hear me now? Yeah, not that loud, but you hear me still. Thank you and thank you for this opportunity to talk about a topic, which is very dear to my heart, but also a very strategic topic, and that is how gender is really the path to sustainable development. Because we believe in a peaceful and equitable world within planetary boundaries, and this is our mission for the coming 15 years. And it is clear that we will not achieve sustainable development by doing business as usual. We need to change our perspectives fundamentally. We need to change our analysis and also our working methods. Striving towards gender equality is not only a goal in itself, but also a precondition for achieving our wider policy objectives globally. And Sweden and the government's ambition is to lead by example. Gender equality is a whole of government policy and priority, and the government pursues the agenda in all facets of its work in Sweden, in the EU, and also globally. And gender equality will also permeate Swedish foreign policy. We say that there are feminist government, and this means that gender equality needs to be in the core of course development cooperation, but also in our security policy, in trade, promotion, and also public diplomacy. For us, a feminist foreign policy is a policy aimed at achieving gender equality by eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and also girls. That is improving gender conditions for women and girls and contributing to sustainable development. And we say that our feminist foreign policy is formed by four hours. There is reality and analysis, rights, representation, and resources. Gender analysis, and this you know, is as complex as it is crucial. It is about getting the facts right from the outset. Access to sex desegregated and other relevant reliable data is important, and it's still a challenge. It's crucial for taking gender equality agenda forward. Getting an accurate picture will enable us to advocate much more convincingly and also to formulate the adequate policies and practices. Without doubt, of course, what forms the basis is the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. The Beijing platform and also the Security Council Resolution 1325 that celebrates 15 years day this year. These international instruments and commitments have impacted global policies and also the debate and has put gender equality on the global agenda. However, no matter how many documents we sign, if we don't do it in practice, it's not going to happen anything. We will not move forward. Respect for human rights and rule of law constitute the starting point for achieving gender equality. And we need to create global partnerships to ensure that women's and girls' rights and gender perspectives are including all strategic discussions, decisions and most importantly in practice. Discriminatory structures such laws and also social norms and stereotypes that perpet gender inequalities in our society must be transformed and eliminated. Violence against women and girls is partly rooted in structural inequalities between women and men and persists in every country of the world, also here in Sweden. And no place is less safe for a woman than her own home. Is this the worst violation of the enjoyment of human rights and without doubts impacts development? The fight against impunity for sexual and gender based violence is thus crucial. Women and girls must be empowered to know and to claim human rights and to participate in shaping society. Effective and transformative changes comes when women and girls have actual influence over their decisions. Women have the right to political participation at all levels and in all processes, that is in peace processes, in trade or in climate negotiations, for instance. And bringing women into decision making on equal terms to men will be the right way in moving forward and the only way to ensure that the needs, interests and rights of women and girls are truly affected and addressed. And we must see that education is a human right and also essential for political participation and for female leadership. Studies have shown that women disproportionately suffer the impacts of disasters, severe weather events and climate change because of culture norms and also inequitable distribution of roads, resources and power, especially in developing countries. At the same time, we know that when women are empowered, there are effective agents of mitigation and adaptation to climate change as they often have the extensive knowledge of water. Energy and food systems. Sweden is emphasizing the important role of women as actors of change. Women have demonstrated unique knowledge and expertise in leading strategies to combat the effects of climate change, as well as natural disaster management, especially at the grassroots level. However, as I've said, women tend to be underrepresented in decision making on sustainable development, and that comes also with regard to climate change. And therefore Sweden will continuously work to ensure that the gender perspective is including in all climate negotiations and activities, including project design and equal representation. By recognizing the pivotal role women play in fighting climate change, we can achieve our aims faster. Some examples. The Swedish Energy Agency invests programs that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 4 million tons by distributing more than half a million cook stoves in African countries. Nearly 3 billion people in the developing world cook food and heat their homes with traditional cook stoves or open fires. 4 million premature deaths occur every year due to smoke exposure from these methods and women and children are the most effective. In Cambodia, another example, Sweden supports an NGO program where women have taken an active role in many of the locally implemented adaptation projects. Women have been involved at grassroots level as leaders in supporting and advocating to the local authorities to improve their natural resources management as an adaptation measure. And a third example, through the UN CDF, Sweden has also supported work that assist local governments in mainstreaming climate change resilience into subnational planning and finance systems. We know that women's economic and social rights are held back. Millions of women are trapped in low paid poor quality jobs and still carry the burden of unpaid household and care work. Thus promoting women's empowerment will help achieving full recognition and realization of women's economic and social rights and ultimately also we believe sustainable development. Women represent 43% of the agriculture workforce and female entrepreneurs are the anchors of the agricultural sector. Yet, and as you know, women rarely own the land that they are working on and FAO reports that closing the gender gap in agriculture inputs alone could lift up to 150 million people out of hunger. Studies show that the higher the inequality in distribution of assets such as land and capital the less likely is it that particular growth path will reduce poverty. Women and girls are further disproportionately affected by inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene as they are often faced with additional challenges related to menstrual hygiene. Research shows that school attendance by girls in lower and drop out rates are significantly higher in schools that have no access to safe water and no separate toilet facilities for boys and for girls. Active participation of both women and men in decision making on water and sanitation services as well as shared responsibility of managing these tasks are essential for achieving gender equality and women's and girls empowerment. Sometimes it's the most practical thing that is needed. It is very important that civil society and not least women's organization is given the opportunity to become an eminent part of the dialogue on transformative change and development. The issue of gender equality is an issue that concerns the whole society. Women and men alike and it should be underlined that also men and boys gain from gender equality including men in work for gender equality is therefore crucial. The post 2015 agenda on the new sustainable development goals and most importantly its implementation can offer us a unique opportunity to promote gender equality in all areas. However to match the new global commitments on gender equality and equivalent ambition within the financing for development agenda is necessary. Specific resources are needed for specific actions but most importantly the gender perspective has to be integrated across all sectors and also visualized in the budgets. We are strategically working to promote gender equality within the financing for development process before the upcoming conference in Addis Ababa. Lessons from this work will be taken forward through the negotiations in New York on the new sustainable development goals and also towards the conference on climate at the end of the year in Paris. I'm now looking forward to hear your thoughts on how stronger partnerships between government and also civil society academia and also business can contribute to gender equality and change the world into a sustainable world.