Ministry of Finance officials at a conference aimed at women's economic empowerment held on Wednesday said that women’s economic empowerment is one of the national priorities and that some programs and projects have been included in the country’s national budget. 

“We have 2.8 billion Afs (over $36 million) available for women empowerment projects in our budget from Optional Funds and International Aid. Apart from this, another 300 million Afs has also been allocated for the recruitment of female teachers,” said Nazir Kabiri, deputy minister for policy at the Ministry of Finance. 

The funds that are provided by non-governmental organizations and are outside of the national budget need to be aligned with national priorities, officials in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy said. 

“We should provide a right path for women's empowerment. We see that $1 billion is not less money, it is close to the development budget,” said the policy deputy minister of economy, Nabi Soroush.

The Ministry of Women Affairs is the implementing agency of the women's economic empowerment program. The ministry says this event is aimed at initiating a roadmap for achieving the goals of the program. 

Hasina Sapai, minister of women affairs, said: “We will lay out the women's economic empowerment roadmap in Afghanistan."

Rula Ghani, the first lady of Afghanistan, participated in the event and said: “Afghan businesswomen financially support their families amid challenges by accepting risks on their way forward,” 

Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of the Economy show that women's participation in business activities has decreased in the current solar year (1399). 

According to the figures, 53 percent of women's investments are in industry, 19% are in farming and less than 5% are in the service sector.