From day one, my mantra has been - and will continue to be - that as a government we were there to serve the people, not the other way around.

There is an English saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Women often become these tough ones.

The precondition of success and entry to the top politics is primarily one's will - that is, making one's own decisions, because it means having to leave your home or move your family, quit social networking and build new contacts, [since] central governments are seated in capitals.

I never had ambition to become president of the state or to accomplish more than men.

I don't subscribe to that school of thought that leadership can be altogether defined by gender.

I have learned from my own experience that if you work hard you will succeed.

We do not have many women leaders in the world. But if you look at the current examples, most of those few female leaders that we have today lead their countries under the pressure of difficult political and economic circumstances. They all posses strong personalities and have real political influence on the domestic and international scene.