ANNEX 3
APEC WOMEN LEADERS NETWORK MEETING 2002
Acapulco, Mexico, August 20-22, 2002
STATEMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
We, the Women Leaders Network from the APEC Economies came together for the
seventh time in Acapulco, Mexico from August 20th to 22nd, 2002, to reaffirm
our commitment and our efforts to contribute to the economic development, cooperation
and prosperity of the APEC region, and to strategize to meet challenges in the
new century.
The theme of this meeting was "Sustainable Economic Development with a
Gender Perspective". Under this theme we discussed the following:
- Implications of globalisation and trade liberalization for women
- Micro-enterprises and SMEs
- Responsible corporate governance and socially responsible business practices.
We recognize that globalisation has both the potential to open new opportunities
or close existing ones. We also recognize that the social and economic impacts
of trade and investment liberalization can reflect and exacerbate the existing
gender inequalities. Our discussion included consideration of labour market
implications of globalisation, the skills needed by women in the New Economy,
and further trade liberalization brought by the WTO New Round and the proliferation
of FTAs and its implication on women.
We commend the APEC Chair's initiative in focusing APEC's attention on micro-enterprises,
since this is such an important sector for women in all APEC economies. This
initiative supports the spirit of the Framework for the Integration of Women
in APEC, which emphasizes the participation of women in the economy. We
encourage APEC to continue its focus on the Micro-enterprise sector beyond 2002.
We congratulate AGGI on its considerable achievements in advancing gender integration
in APEC. We support the creation of the Gender Focal Point Network to sustain
the momentum of AGGI's initiatives. We look forward to being a key part of this
Network and to an enhanced role in integrating gender issues throughout APEC.
IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBALISATION AND TRADE LIBERALIZATION FOR WOMEN
- WLN recommends that APEC undertake initiatives and projects to evaluate
and respond to the implications of globalisation and trade liberalization
on women's education, employment, wages and the recognition and acceptance
of professional credentials across the APEC region.
- WLN recommends that APEC recognize the importance of e-business for women
and publish best practice examples of e-business, and put in place strategies
and programs to significantly increase women's access to ICT-based education
and training, making best use of flexible and innovative methods of teaching
and learning.
- WLN recommends that APEC support the inclusion of a gender perspective in
the WTO New Round and Regional Trading Arrangements in the APEC region particularly
in such areas as agriculture and the service industry, that have especially
pronounced gender implications.
- WLN recommends that APEC establish a mechanism to enable the protection
of intellectual property rights, including the protection of indigenous knowledge
within and across economies.
MICROENTERPRISES AND SMEs
According to the World Bank, 90 percent of the population in developing economies
has no access to formal financial services. In order to achieve a more inclusive
world economy we believe that all women in the APEC region should have access
to formal financial services.
We support the institutional placement of the Micro-enterprise issue in the
Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group (SMEWG) and affirm the recent enhancement
of the Integrated Action Plan for SME Development (SPAN) to incorporate Micro-enterprise
development issues.
1. WLN calls on APEC Leaders to support global goals to substantially increase
the number of women who have access to micro-finance and business development
services.
2. WLN recommends that APEC economies create an enabling environment for the
micro-enterprise sector and for the development of commercially viable microfinance
institutions, through public-private partnerships.
3. In recognition of the unique challenges faced by the Micro sector and its
immense importance for employment and income creation in APEC economies, WLN
recommends a permanent sub-group be created in the SMEWG to address Microfinance
and Micro-enterprise issues.
4. WLN recommends that the SMEWG undertake a study, in cooperation with WLN,
of the challenges that Micro-enterprises face in growing their businesses and
the challenges Microfinance organizations face in transitioning to commercially
viable institutions.
We commend the SMEWG on the recent enhancement of the SPAN to highlight the
important contribution women-owned SMEs make to economic activity and on the
launch of the APEC SME Portal Hub which we understand has at least one link
related to women per economy.
WLN has held its annual meetings in conjunction with the SME Ministers in 1997,
1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002. In each of these years WLN has been invited to present
recommendations to the SME Ministers. WLN by its nature is a network representing
women leaders in business, academe, NGOs and government and as such has access
to networks of women SMEs across the region.
1. WLN recommends that a closer working relationship be established between
WLN and the SMEWG to enable WLN to function as the major channel of APEC's outreach
to women SMEs in the region, and encourage them to take advantage of APEC resources.
2. WLN recommends that SMEWG mount a series of workshops throughout the APEC
region in conjunction with WLN to build capacity of women owned SMEs, through
increasing knowledge of the SME Portal Hub and other APEC SMEWG programs. These
workshops should also serve as networking events to facilitate trade and alliances
and information sharing across the APEC region.
3. WLN recommends that SME Ministers support the adoption of government-backed
guarantees for loans by SMEs.
RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
We commend the initiatives of APEC in promoting responsible corporate governance
and socially responsible business practices.
We recognize that responsible corporate governance and socially responsible
business practices will contribute to the growth of micro-enterprises into small
and medium enterprises, and eventually into multi-economy corporations.
1. WLN recommends that APEC develops and adopts guidelines for responsible
corporate governance, which will encompass the principles of fairness, transparency,
accountability and responsibility in corporate governance and socially responsible
business practices.
2. WLN recommends that APEC focus on the implementation of transparency in
government procurement to improve access to government contracts for women owned
SMEs.
We thank the National Institute for Women in Mexico for the success of the
Seventh Annual WLN meeting.
We support and welcome the Kingdom of Thailand as Chair of the Eighth WLN Meeting
in 2003.
