Brussels, 05/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 7 July the Dutch presidency is organising a ministerial conference in Rotterdam on "Cultural Diversity and Integration: the gender based approach". This conference, which will see ministers for emancipation, integration, social affairs, justice and home affairs participating from the 25 Member States of the EU, will tackle the following questions: improving social commitment, increasing the participation in active life, reduction of the differences in income between men and women, the fight against poverty, the reinforcement of training session participation and seminars, the protection of human rights and the fight against all kinds of discrimination, the improvement in the position of women in ethic minority groups. The Dutch presidency points out that the port city of Rotterdam is one of the Dutch cities that suffers most from problems of integration. The Mayor of Rotterdam, Ivo Opstelten will be explaining the situation to ministers. The conference will be chaired by the Dutch minister Aart Jan de Geus (social affairs, employment and emancipation) and Rita Verdonk (immigration and integration). Conclusions from this ministerial conference will be sent to the Social Council on 4 October and the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 2 December 2004. On Tuesday 6 July, the presidency meeting in Rotterdam, with representatives from Member States as well as European social partners and the European Women's Lobby, will prepare for Wednesday's ministerial.