PHL TO ATTEND WOMEN SUMMIT IN BALI Since 2007, The Philippines has been represented at the APEC Women Leaders Network meetings which were held in Australia, 2008 in Peru, 2009 in Singapore , and in 2010 it changed its name to APEC Women and Economy Summit (WES) and was held in Gifu, Japan. The APEC WES is a separate meeting where women(and men) from the APEC economies discuss the role of women, the needs of women in their economies and then come up with a document to bring to the APEC leaders meeting which follows usually after a month or two. In 2011, the WES was held in San Francisco, California and had no less than then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as convenor and speaker. The outcome? The now famous and oft-quoted San Francisco Declaration. The document, signed by all APEC ministers stresses four main concerns for women in APEC economies: Access to Capital, Access To Markets, Skills and Capacity Building and Women’s leadership. It was also stressed that not including women in the economy is a loss of about $47 billion to APEC economies. Private sector representative Pacita Juan , President of WomenBizPH attended that 2011 High Level Policy Meeting with DTI Undersecretary Merly Cruz as the public sector representative . This is the meeting where Clinton discussed the San Francisco Declaration, now a historical document. This year, the APEC WES happens in Bali, Indonesia on September 6-8, 2013. The DTI focal point people for women issues, the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the Dept of Foreign Affairs (DFA) , DA Undersecretary Berna Romulo-Puyat will join the delegation to obeserve what happens in the coming summit. This attendance of about 20 Filipina women leaders in Bali will be a good preparation for 2015 when the Philippines again hosts the APEC meetings, and the Women and Economy Summit being an important part of the economic meetings. It must be noted that the APEC Women Leaders Network was started in 1996 right here in the Philippines and in 2015 it shall have a return to our shores. The first ever APEC Women Leaders Network was started by now Commission on Filipinos Overseas top gun Mely Nicolas (former chair of WomenBizPH). Other APEC WLN leaders were Amelou Benitez-Reyes, Nona Ricafort and Myrna Yao. This year the DTI plans to bring more young women leaders in ICT, in social enterprises and WomenBizPH members who head their companies or have innovated their businesses, as part of the private sector delegation. It must be noted that in a recent consultation meeting of APEC-ABAC and ASEAN-BAC (Business Advisory Council), two items have come out of the agenda: Women in the Economy and Social Enterpreneurship as the Next Business model. It is noted that both APEC and ASEAN are concerned about the role of women in the economy. At a recent Social Entrepreneur’s Consultation meeting hosted by PCW and CIDA, the representative organizations of SMEs from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao agreed that women and social enterprises truly have a role in being competitive in the region and among APEC economies. Especially with 2015 just around the corner and ASEAN integration being a certainty. ##################################
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 06:01:25 +0000