She said this was conveyed to her by Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Svetlana T. Inamova, which, among the objectives, was to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the three areas.

"I have agreed to this in principle and will table the proposal to the Cabinet. God willing, we will sign the MoU after it is approved by the Cabinet," she told reporters after Inamova paid a courtesy call on her at her office here today.

Shahrizat said Inamova, who is also the chairman of the Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan, was keen to learn from Malaysia’s efforts for women’s advancement.

"They are interested in what we are doing although from our discussions, the women’s progress there could be more advanced than here," she said.

Meanwhile, Inamova expressed the hope that the suggestion for both countries to sign the MoU would be well accepted by the Malaysian government, BERNAMA reported.

Currently, she said, the task of the Uzbekistan government was to strengthen ties between the two countries which would not only be beneficial economically, but would also provide opportunities for cultural and social exchange, including on the women’s agenda of both nations.

On women’s participation in decision-making in Uzbekistan, Inamova said it had a similar target with Malaysia, which was to have at least 30 percent women at the decision-making level.

However, she disclosed that currently Uzbekistan had a higher quota of women in decision-making, especially at the rural and district levels compared to Malaysia.

Hence, she suggested, that the Malaysian government paid more attention to the status of rural women as a means to enhance their standard of living.