After being invited by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to a brainstorming lunch on 8 July to prepare for the conference together with a handful of other Brussels-based women influencers, Sylvie Mamias (Union Fleurs) attended on 30 September the Trade for Her Conference, which investigated how to achieve greater involvement of women in international trade, in the EU and beyond.
Next to Commissioner Malmström, the line-up of speakers included Arancha González, Executive Director - International Trade Centre; Roberto Azevêdo, Director General - World Trade Organization; Guy Ryder, Director General - International Labour Organisation; Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Christian Ewert, amfori President; and Denise Stubbs, Director Thokozani Wines, South Africa.
Building on the progress made since the 1st International Forum on Women and Trade in 2017 and taking stock of what has been achieved and what remains to be accomplished, the day started with discussions on the challenges to empower women through international trade and exploring the potential solutions in their areas of work by analysing the complex relationship between trade and gender equality.
The conference, divided into 4 different sessions, continued by looking into the results of the first-ever study on barriers for women in the European Union, who are engaged in international trade. The study by the International Trade Centre and financed by the European Commission is titled 'From Europe to the World: Understanding Challenges for European Businesswomen' and available online.
Recognising the important role businesses play in enhancing opportunities for women in trade, business representatives shared their experience and further discussed with the audience, the economic tools, approaches and ideas to put in place that will operate a change in mindset and catalyse multi-dimensional transformation of the position of women in the global economic landscape.
The conference’s stream is still available online.
For more information:
Union Fleurs
info@unionfleurs.org
www.unionfleurs.org