Clinton underlines women's role in national growth, visits SEWA in Mumbai

Mumbai, July 18 (ANI): Away from her official meetings, Hilary Clinton on Saturday met volunteers of Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a non-government organisation, in Mumbai on Saturday.

Highlighting the contribution of women in a country's growth, Clinton said, "We simply cannot make progress in our world if we leave women behind. What SEWA has accomplished, the most vulnerable women can work their way towards self sufficiency and towards secured healthy lives and then its not just women who benefit, it's their families, their communities."

Last time, Clinton had visited SEWA's headquarters at Ahmedabad in 1995 as the US First Lady.

Underlining the role of women being crucial in the growth of any nation, Clinton pledged her country's support and cooperation to help India in meeting some of its health challenges.

She said the U.S would help India in eliminating diseases like tuberculosis and polio.

"As you may know, [we] contribute a lot of money from our government to HIV/AIDS. But, we want to add to commitment, a commitment to maternal and child health which is especially important here in India. The eradication of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, polio which are still problems here in India. And we are going to work very hard with our counterparts in India as part of our new comprehensive dialogue to figure out whether the United States can be of help in solving some of India's health challenges," said Clinton.

Clinton's five-day visit is aimed at strengthening ties between the world's biggest and largest democracies. (ANI)