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2008/MRT/002

Agenda Item:IX

13th Meeting of the Women Leaders Network - Recommendations to APEC Economic Leaders and Ministers

Purpose: Consideration

Submitted by: WLN

/ Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting
Arequipa, Peru
31 May-1 June 2008

13th Meeting of the Women Leaders Network

Recommendations to APEC Economic Leaders and Ministers

Arequipa, Peru, 12‐14 May 2008

The 13thmeeting of the Women Leaders Network (WLN) was convened in Arequipa, Peru the 12th– 14thMay, 2008. The theme of the meeting was ‘Successful Women, Successful Economies’. Over three hundred women and men, representing the public and private sectors, civil society, academia and indigenous and rural women met to consider issues that are critical to supporting the 2008 APEC agenda and the Bogor Goals of free and open trade among the developed economies by 2010 and all economies by 2020. WLN affirmed its commitment to supporting Peru´s priorities of:

  • Facilitation of Women’s Access to International Markets
  • Education in ICT
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Rural Women & Trade
  • Micro Enterprise and Micro Finance

WLN calls upon Economic Leaders and Ministers to implement the decisions taken by the 13thMeeting of the WLN. WLN calls upon the responsible Minister to inform your WLN representative of the extent of implementation of these recommendations before the next WLN meeting.

Ministers Responsible for Trade

Based on research conducted by WLN, and the proceedings of the 13th WLN meeting, including the Women in Export Day, WLN strongly recommends that the Ministers Responsible for Trade :

  1. Direct their departments to:
  1. Develop and provide accessible and affordable export credit plans and microfinance for small and micro enterprises; and
  1. Develop capacity‐building programs to assist women‐led enterprises to access global supply chains, particularly in the service sector and for rural, impoverished and indigenous women.
  1. Consult and include relevant women and women’s organizations in the planning, negotiation and implementation of trade agreements. This is to ensure that gender concerns and outcomes are included as an integral part of all negotiations and reports in relation to any and all trade arrangements.
  1. Improve collection and analysis of sex‐disaggregated data on trade and entrepreneurship and continue to commission research and case studies to monitor these outcomes.
  1. Address issues of Intellectual Property Protection of indigenous knowledge, arts and design, and prevent exploitation of traditional knowledge and ways of life.

Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TELWG)

To reduce the impact on women of the digital divide and enable them to take advantage of the digital economy:

  1. Develop standards, uniform ICT indicators and sex‐disaggregated databases that can be applied across all economies so that meaningful comparisons can be made and reported.
  1. Implement incentive programs to encourage the private sector at all levels, to establish ICT infrastructure and training programs for women.
  1. Make e‐Technology available, affordable and sustainable for women, including women in rural areas.

Ministers Responsible for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

WLN recommends that you:

  1. Develop enabling policies, programs and financing to bring women‐led micro enterprises into formal market systems by:

-Reporting on the number of women‐led enterprises in the formal and informal economy;

  1. Create incentives to encourage corporations to:

-Attract, retain and promote women; and

-Do business with women‐led enterprises, including micro and SME, to facilitate women’s entry into global supply chains.

  1. Ensure that governments increase the percentage of contracts with qualified women‐led enterprises.
  1. Improve the collection of sex‐disaggregated data on micro, small and medium enterprises.

SMEs Working Group

WLN strongly recommends that the name of SME Working Group be changed to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Working Group.

Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG)

Develop an action plan to advance and promote:

-the education of women and girls in science and technology

-enterprise skills, beginning at school level

WLN within APEC

To further APEC's achievements on its commitment to gender issues, WLN asks APEC Leaders to:

  1. Grant the WLN guest status at the meetings of all APEC working groups from 2009;
  1. Appoint at least one woman to each economy’s APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) delegation from 2008, to begin to address the striking gender imbalance currently evident within ABAC;
  1. Include the presentation of the WLN recommendations by the Chair of WLN as a standing ABAC agenda item at the APEC Leaders Dialogue from 2009; and
  1. Ensure the continued attendance of ABAC at the WLN meetings each year.

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WLN thanks the Ministry for Women and Social Development of Peru for their outstanding hospitality and congratulates the government of Peru for hosting these important events.

WLN looks forward to convening its 14th meeting in Singapore on 20 August, 2009.