Dear Ms. Barkalaia, 

I have the honor to invite you to participate in the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) Regional Launch Event to be held in the sidelines of the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (RFSD) for the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region in March 2019.

EPIC, is the Equal Pay International Coalition led by the ILO, UN Women, and the OECD. The Coalition’s goal is to achieve equal pay for women and men everywhere. By bringing together a diverse set of actors with different areas of focus and expertise, EPIC supports governments, employers, workers, and their organizations to make concrete and coordinated progress towards this goal. EPIC is currently the only multi-stakeholder partnership working to reduce the gender pay gap at the global, regional and national levels.

Building upon the momentum gained since EPIC’s launch in September 2017, this high-level forum will launch EPIC in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and bring together regional leaders including governments, trade unions, private sector, and civil society to share knowledge, and exchange good practice on how to accelerate the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value.

The Side Event is scheduled to take place from 13:15 – 15:00 hours on the 22^nd of March, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland – a draft concept note for the side event is attached. From Georgia, along with yourself, we are also inviting Member of Parliament Mr. Dimitri Tskitishvili, and Deputy Minister Ekaterine Nikabadze of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. UN Women will cover the cost of return airfare and will provide subsistence allowance for two nights in Geneva at the UN Rates.

We request that you confirm your participation with Mehjabeen Alarakhia, Programme Specialist and Manager for the project by sending an email to Mehjabeen.alarakhia@unwomen.org by 27 February 2019.

We look forward to working together on the to strengthen women’s economic empowerment in Georgia in the framework of the project "Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus”, funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Austrian Development Agency. Please accept the assurances of highest compliments of consideration.

Best Regards,

Mehjabeen