He said, "The Kingdom is keen to promote and empower women to play their natural role in advancing the prosperity and development it is witnessing today, by joining the treaties and regional and international conventions that promote women's rights. Women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do not suffer from lack of equality with men in pay as the law guarantees that for them. Today, women have become able to work in all the areas that achieve for them the best ways to effectively contribute to advancing prosperity and development." He reported that this contributed to more than twofold increase in the share of women in the labor market and public sectors during the past five years. Women have been able to reap advanced positions on the list of the most powerful one hundred Arab women last year, he said. They won the second, third and ninth positions, he stated. Thanks to a wise decision by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, women have been able to gain access to political participation by becoming members of Majlis Al-Shura by not less than 20% "30 members," he added. Starting from next year, women will be able to be candidates for membership of municipal councils and vote for whoever they want to vote, he said. At the end of his speech, Faisal bin Trad said that the kingdom continues to exert all efforts to promote women's rights and participation in the renaissance and development of the country, considering that good women and promotion of their right ensure the good of the society as a whole. --SPA 13:40 LOCAL TIME 10:40 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w