Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari praised New Zealand’s PM Ardern as New Zealand’s superwoman.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Bilawal shared pictures of himself with PM Ardern. These pictures were taken when the two met on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The minister described his meeting with PM Ardern as “the biggest fan moment”. In his tweet, he said that PM Ardern is the second woman after her mother Benazir Bhutto to become a mother during her tenure as Prime Minister.
Biggest fan moment of #UNGA . Was meeting @jacindaardern superwoman PM of New Zealand. After my mother the second head of government to give birth in office. She told me her daughter was born on the 21st of June, same as shaheed Benazir Bhutto! pic.twitter.com/jAazcSVrVY
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) September 29, 2022
According to Bilawal, he also revealed to her that his daughter was born on June 21 — the same day Benazir Bhutto was born — a detail Prime Minister Jacinda had also revealed earlier this year on May 26. He raised it in his speech at the commencement of Harvard University.
PM Ardern, addressing the ceremony, paid tribute to Benazir Bhutto and said, “In June 1989, the Prime Minister of Pakistan [Benazir Bhutto] rose to the occasion and delivered the inaugural address entitled Democratic Nations Must Unite.” His journey, importance of citizenship, representative government, human rights and democracy.
PM Ardern said, “She [Bhutto] was also the first woman to give birth in office. And, almost 30 years later, I was the second and only leader to give birth in office.”
“My daughter, Neve Te Aroha (Light and Love) Ardern Gayford, was born on 21 June 2018, Benazir Bhutto’s birthday.”
Thirty years earlier, in June 1989, Bhutto, Pakistan’s first and only woman prime minister, had addressed the same event at Harvard.
PM Ardern recalled the moment she met Bhutto in Geneva in June 2007 when the two leaders attended a conference attended by progressive parties from around the world.
