PM Kamla walks the red carpet at Carnegie Hall, meets world leaders and int'l celebrities

PM Kamla accepts her Women of the Year award from Glamour Magazine. (more pictures below)

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was in the company of world leaders, movie stars, the world's top entertainers and fashion models Monday night at Carnegie Hall in New York as she shared the Women of the Year honours with four other world leaders in the glare of the world media.

The Women of the Year award is made by Glamour magazine. Past honorees have included movie stars, entertainers and notable world politicians.

This year the magazine chose five female world leaders, including Persad-Bissessar, for their individual achievements on behalf of their respective countries.

The other "Women of the Year 2010" are Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor of Croatia, Prime Minister Iveta Radicová of Slovakia, President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who in 2005 became the first woman to lead an African nation.

The magazine said it has chosen Persad-Bissessar because of her determination to tackle Trinidad and Tobago's crime rate, boost pensions, and eradicate poverty—all issues that greatly affect women.

"She is known for her inclusive leadership style and her desire to get more women into office," the magazine said.

Read the story: Glamour magazine names PM Kamla in top 5 list of Women of the Year 2010

The Glamour Awards event was the first of several engagements Persad-Bissessar has during her three-day trip to the United States, including a meeting on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington to discuss major economic, social and political issues affecting the Western Hemisphere."

They will also have in-depth discussions about the issues directly dealing with US/Trinidad and Tobago/CARICOM relations, with a primary focus on the state of the global and regional economy and the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries.

On Tuesday she is scheduled to meet with the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Susan Rice, at the UN’s offices in New York.

Also on Tuesday the Prime Minister will deliver a lecture to Harvard University’s Faculty Law School at a symposium on Leadership and Cooperation on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, in addition to her meeting with Clinton, Persad-Bissessar will deliver an address at the Council of Ambassadors meeting of the Organization of American States on at the OAS Headquarters in Washington.

She is due to return home on Thursday. Finance Minister Winston Dookeran is acting PM during her absence.

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar with the President of Liberia.  Below: The PM meets Academy Award winning movie star Julia Roberts