WILLEMSTAD--During the General Meeting of the United Nations (UN) taking place from September 19 to September 25, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles Emily de Jongh-Elhage will not only lead the Dutch Kingdom delegation during the first two days, but also participate as panel member in a discussion on the essential role of women in democratic processes.

The "Council of Women World Leaders," a network of current and former female heads of state and leaders of the government, invited her.

From today, September 20, up to and including September 22, De Jongh-Elhage will participate in the UN high-level Plenary Session on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG Summit). The Prime Minister will lead the delegation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday, while Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende will do so as of Wednesday.

The so-called 2010 MDG Summit aims for the meeting of heads of state, leaders of the government and ministers to give the realisation of the MDGs an extra impulse by means of a renewed political commitment, given the few remaining years up to 2015. For that purpose, they will analyse the progress made to-date, identify the bottlenecks and agree upon concrete actions to achieve the development targets.

During the week, De Jongh-Elhage will participate in various meetings as delegation leader and later on as member of the delegation. On September 20, the Antillean Prime Minister will join the traditional dinner of Queen Rania of Jordan, and represent the Kingdom at a reception of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel.

A number of bilateral meetings with representatives of countries from the Caribbean region are scheduled as well during the week.