ࡱ> =?>7 bjbjUU &7|7|lTTTT `3prrrrrr$ BLRppT V@Tt ݓ^T" T<3xI ITSummary of Session on The impact of women in small, medium and micro enterprises on increasing trade under the ϲʹ Agreements Organized by Geneva Women in International Trade (GWIT) in partnership with the Commonwealth Business Council This well-attended event was intended to draw the attention of the ϲʹ and the multilateral trading system to the significant contributions women in small, medium and micro enterprises make in international trade and to emphasise that these economic benefits might be enhanced through negotiations based on an understanding of the impact of trade liberalisation on women. The session, ably moderated by Ambassador Mary Whelan (Ireland), began with GWIT President Birgit Maillefaud, recalling that aim of the panel organized by GWIT at the ϲʹ Symposium in 2003 had been to stimulate discussions on gender and trade at the multilateral level. She noted that since then the Government of Canada had organized a round-table discussion on gender and trade at the ϲʹ Ministerial in Cancun and the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Gender and Trade had been established. Whilst these advances were welcomed panellists this year signposted ways in which gender and trade could be taken up within the ϲʹ. The session included a geographically diverse group of speakers from both the public and private sectors: Mr. Carlos Braga a senior advisor on international trade within the World Bank; Ms. Christine Agimba the chairperson of the Organization of Women in International Trade in Nairobi who is also a lawyer and small business woman; Ms. Anh-Gha Tran-Nguyen, Head of the Debt and Development Finance Branch in UNCTAD and coordinator of the UN Inter-Agency Gender and Trade Network; and Ms. Barbara Mowat, President of Impact Communications and herself a winner of the Canadian National Women Entrepreneur of the Year award. Key messages of the speakers included: Women in small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), as workers and entrepreneurs, are important contributors to world trade; women are, at the same time, profoundly affected by trade liberalization and ϲʹ rules while often not benefiting from concomitant market access and employment opportunities; the impact of trade liberalisation and ϲʹ rules could be better understood through the collection of sex-desegregated data; assessing the impact of trade policies on women could assist in policy formation and planning the potential impact of the winding up of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing on 2 million women workers in Bangladesh was cited as an example; women should play a more active role in the formulation, implementation and assessment of national as well as international trade policy. For these reasons, ϲʹ Members should initiate consideration of gender and trade issues in the multilateral trading system. Questions were taken in the middle of the session and an open-ended discussion followed the final presentation, involving the audience and the speakers. The session concluded with Ambassador Whelans summary noting that given the potential of women to contribute further to economic growth and development through greater engagement in international trade, the following issues could merit further consideration in the ϲʹ. Within the trade policy review mechanism, a) governments need to engage women entrepreneurs and traders in the consultations processes, and b) Secretariat and Government documents could include gender impact assessments; The technical assistance activities of ϲʹ could seek to (a) ensure a more balanced gender participation in training activities (b) consider whether a gender dimension could be included in training modules, and (c) provide training in gender impact assessment tools. The preceding points could provide the basis for an annual report to the General Council on ϲʹ efforts to encourage greater participation by women in international trade. This report would include an update of the number of women officers and managers within the Secretariat and on Advisory boards. Ambassador Whelan underlined the importance of delegations taking these points up in order for the benefits of the Doha Round to flow to women as well as to men. Texts of presentations and further information can be found at  HYPERLINK "http://www.gwit.ch" www.gwit.ch X #״Ǧ0J6OJQJ]mH sH %j6OJQJU]mH sH j6OJQJU]mH sH 6OJQJ]mH sH OJQJOJQJ^JmH nH sH tH OJQJmH sH hiW X #$ & F $7$8$H$a$$a$CEƀՋvFfg $7$8$H$a$ & F$h^ha$$ & Fa$ $&P 1h. A!"#$%DyK  www.gwit.chyK (http://www.gwit.ch/ iD@D Normal$CJOJQJ^J_HaJmH sH tH <A@< Default Paragraph Font>B@> Body Text$a$5\mH sH u@O@  Balloon TextCJOJQJ^JaJ.U@. 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