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What is the APEC Women and the Economy Summit?
- The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit (WES) is the premier event bringing together senior private and public sector players for a dialogue on fostering women’s economic empowerment among the APEC economies. - It takes place September 13 -16 in San Francisco, California.
- The WES has three components: public-private meetings on key issues for women’s empowerment; the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE), and the High-Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Women and the Economy.
- The Policy Dialogue of the Summit is expected to support a set of policy recommendations that will be delivered to the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, scheduled for November 12-13, 2011 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
What are the goals of WES?
The goals are:
-To pursue concrete policy recommendations through PPWE and HLPD and projects to increase women’s economic participation and drive economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region; and
-To present a program that is aspirational, inspirational and practical.
What issues will be discussed?
-The policy framework for discussion will encompass four issues: access to finance, access to markets, capacity and skills building, and women’s leadership.
-To complement the proposed policy framework, the WES will also address innovation, green growth, technology, entrepreneurship, and public-private partnerships.
Who should attend WES?
-This event is designed for private sector leaders representing multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), academia and civil society as well as for senior government officials responsible for setting international, economic, trade, and SMEpolicies.
What is the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy?
-The APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE) is what United States has proposed to combine the strength of the Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN), an official APEC sub-forum, and the private sector-oriented Women Leaders Network (WLN). It was agreed upon at the Senior Officials Meeting on May 18, 2011 in Big Sky, Montana.
- The PPWE will elevate and streamline gender work in APEC to champion the economic empowerment of women and to deepen public and private sector cooperation in this effort.
- The PPWE will draft policy recommendations which will be discussed at the High-Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Women and the Economy.
What is the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Women and the Economy?
- As a part of WES, the United States will host the High-Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Women and the Economy on September 16 in San Francisco for high-ranking officials, responsible for a broader spectrum of economic policies and for private sector leaders from business, academia or civil society in their respective economies to discuss issues on women’s empowerment.
- The Policy Dialogue will discuss and develop a set of policy recommendations to Leaders about how APEC can take concrete actions to enhance economic participation of women.
- The United States has proposed to create the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE) under which the recommendations will be drafted.
Who will participate in the HLPD on Women and the Economy?
- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, as the head of U.S. delegation to the Policy Dialogue, has issued letters of invitation to her counterparts in APEC economies.
- We recommend that senior government officials responsible for economic and commercial policies, as well as representatives from the private sector join the dialogue.
How will the PPWE be sustained going forward?
- The APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE) Management Council will be created to maintain the continuity of the efforts under PPWE.
- The core members of the Council will be the chair, who will be members from the current host economy, and the co-chairs, who will represent the previous host economy and the future host economy. The chair and co-chairs, who will be government officials, will use the Management Council to guide the efforts of the PPWE.
- The chair and co-chairs may invite private sector participants from their economies to serve as advisors. Interested members from other economies and APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) would also be invited to join the discussion at the PPWE Management Council.