BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 20. The protection of women's rights in Nicaragua is one of the most important issues and in many social spheres women hold leadership positions, Nicaragua's Minister of Women's Affairs Jessica Yaoska Padilla Leiva said, TurkicWorld reports.

She spoke at the ongoing Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) conference in Baku on "Advancing Women's Rights and Empowerment".

"In our country, 9 out of 16 ministers are women. This means that 56 percent of the total number of ministers are women," she said.

Baku is hosting the NAM conference on "Advancing Women's Rights and Empowerment" under the joint organization of Azerbaijan (the current NAM chair), Uganda, and Uzbekistan (the future NAM chairs).

The event is held on the basis of initiatives voiced by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the ministerial meeting of the NAM Coordination Bureau in July this year.