UNIC-AIWFF Special Event: Female Ambassador Meeting

In commemoration of 20th AIWFF, Beijing+20 and UN70

Gender equality and women's empowerment can change the world !

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted in September 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, as well as the 20th anniversary of the film festival, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Tokyo co-organizes a special event "Female Ambassador Meeting" featuring a panel discussion entitled "Gender equality and women's empowerment can change the world!".

  • H.E. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa / Ambassador of the Republic of India to Japan
  • H.E. Dr. Andrijana Cvetkovikj / Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia/the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to Japan
  • Ms. Kaoru Nemoto / Director, United Nations Information Centre, Tokyo
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H.E. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa

Ambassador of the Republic of India to Japan

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H.E. Mrs. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa is the Ambassador of India to Japan. She is also concurrently accredited as Ambassador of India to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Mrs. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979. Mrs. Wadhwa has extensive experience with multilateral work and has covered issues like human rights, disarmament, environmental and social issues in the UN. She has also worked for International Labour Organisation (ILO) as head of their International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in New Delhi in 2001. Mrs. Wadhwa has done postings in Hong Kong, Geneva, and The Hague. She served as the Head of UN division in the Ministry of External Affairs & thereafter was appointed the Ambassador of India to Sweden & Latvia. Prior to taking up her assignment in Japan, Mrs. Wadhwa was Ambassador of India to the State of Qatar.

H.E. Dr. Andrijana Cvetkovikj

Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia/the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to Japan

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After working as a Head of Unit in the Cabinet of the Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Cvetkovikj became the first resident Ambassador of her country to Japan. She is the youngest Ambassador among over 100 Ambassadors in Japan. She obtained her Doctoral Degree from Nihon University Graduate School of Arts. She served as a research professor at Kyoko University. As a film director, she produced "Purple and Gold", filmed in Kyoto. Ms. Cvetkovikj was a Director/Producer of TEDxKyoto 2012 and 2013. She speaks more than five languages fluently, including Japanese.  Her interests are photography, yoga, and poetry.

Ms. Kaoru Nemoto

Director, United Nations Information Centre, Tokyo


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After working as a TV Asahi announcer and reporter, Ms. Nemoto joined UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) from 1996 to 2011. During her career at UNHCR, she was active in assisting and protecting refugees in various places. At the headquarters in Geneva, she engaged in developing policies and managing fund-raising from the private sector. Ms. Nemoto also worked as spokeswoman for WFP (World Food Programme) and as Executive Director at Japan Association for UNHCR. After working as a free-lance journalist, she assumed her current position in August 2013.

Solar Mamas

  • NHK World Documentary “Solar Mamas”
  • Broadcast by NHK BS1 on 7 Dec. 2012/49min
Impoverished women from around the world come to the Barefoot College in India to study solar engineering. Only women with children are allowed to attend because, being mothers, they tend to remain in their rural communities upon completion of their studies, and take back their new skills and knowledge to share. The film closely follows an illiterate Jordanian woman as she learns, far from her own children back home and hindered by unsympathetic men, the new technology from the basics of solar circuits to advanced assembling of parts, in a bid to gain independence for herself.