Austrade’s holds Trade Day for women
With women fast becoming the new economic forces in business world wide, Austrade, for the first time, will hold a Trade Day for women to kick-off the APEC Women Leaders Network (WLN) meeting in Port Douglas.
Australian Government Minister for Trade Warren Truss will open the Austrade Women in Export Trade Day. He said there is an increase in the number of women participating in the work force and taking up senior roles in exporting.
Overall in Australia one in every 10 board members on private sector boards are women and one in every three Commonwealth board members is female.
The latest DHL Women in Export survey of Australian businesses shows one in five has women in either a chief executive officer (CEO), or head, of exporting role.
Women in business in APEC economies are performing well, particularly in service related sectors. The global market for services is the fast growing sector of world trade and in APEC economies that is no exception.
The services sector is one that women can get involved in and in many cases can export without having to travel.
One of the founders of the APEC WLN and President of Lever Enterprises in Canada, Andrina Lever said the opportunities for women in the service exporting sectors are huge and we have to make women aware of it.
As the Economist stated in April, 2006, forget China, India and the internet: economic growth is driven by women.
The World Bank has also stated there is a business case for expanding women’s economic opportunities, it is smart economics.
Warren Truss see great potential for women exporters as they become comfortable in the international arena, understand the opportunities out there and become experienced as the world gets flat.
The APEC WLN was founded in 1996 by a group of senior women when a photograph of APEC officials had no women in the picture. Amongst the founders, Lever represented women in the private sector the others were a combination of women in technology, government and academia.
The idea for APEC WLN was to get women into the picture, to show there were women qualified to be in decision making capacities in APEC and offer ourselves up as sources of expertise and to teach and train as many women as we could about APEC and the opportunities that could be realised.
A key panel expert at the Trade Day, Austrade ’s Chief Economist Tim Harcourt said both Australia and APEC economies have experienced rapid growth in service sector exports.
Australia’s service exports have grown from over $29bn in 1999 to almost $44bn in 2006. APEC economies have also experienced rapid growth from $18bn in 1999 to $26bn in 2006.
There are strong economic benefits from raising female participation in business that can assist the whole APEC region. Women are APEC’s hidden resource. By investing in human capital through increased economic participation by women, and increasing trade ties, APEC can raise productivity and ultimately living standards for all.
Austrade’s Leader of its Women in Export program, Jenny Mathews said the Women in Export Trade Day will provide participating women with key information about exporting with a focus on the services sector.
The Trade Day will provide practical steps to exporting, there is a focus on e-business and exporting online, a section about exporting services, cross cultural issues and a Tasteful Exporting event whereby participants can sample produce from local Australian exporters.
In addition, the Trade Day will provide attendees with an opportunity to meet women from APEC economies who hold senior government and academic roles who can provide an insight into export opportunities in the region.
Austrade is encouraging more women to participate in its Trade Day. The Women in Export Trade Day will be held in Port Douglas at the Sheraton Mirage on 24 June 2007 from 10.30am.
The Women in Export Trade Day is a lead-in event to the 12th APEC Women Leaders’ Network Meeting from 25-27 June 2007. To register to attend the event online visit Austrade website.
7-Jun-2007