At a conference in Paris of the Arab International Womens Forum, bringing together businesswomen and company directors from the Arab and western worlds euronews met Diala El-Haj Aref, Syrias Work and Social Affairs minister.



As a minister she belongs to a very select group in the Arab world, and has run her department since 2004, after a state career spanning several economic sectors.

She has written widely on economics, administration, or Arab women, and was here to speak about the role they and their western counterparts can play together.

While El-Haj Aref notes Arab women have broken into the world of business recently, they have yet to break the quasi-monopoly of economic decision-making being a male affair.