HaNoi, Viet Nam, 10 May 2017 – On the second working day of APEC SOM 2 and related meetings, various meetings have been held including the Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE), Human Resource Development Working Group (HRDWG),Group of Friends on Disability Issues (GoFD), Mining Task Force (MTF), Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) and Automotive Dialogue (AD).
Continuing yesterday’s meeting, the PPWE today focused on issues related to women’s participation in economic development; gender mainstreaming in all areas of APEC cooperation. Delegates also discussed preliminary preparatory works for the Women and the Economy 2017 Forum to take place this September.
Currently, in the 21 APEC economies, approximately 600 million women are in the labor force, with over 60 per cent engaged in the formal sector. A United Nations report has shown that limits on women’s participation in the workforce across the Asia-Pacific region cost the economy an estimated US$89 billion every year. Established in 2011, PPWE’s goal is to advance the economic integration of women in the APEC region for the benefit of all members and to coordinate gender activities across other APEC working groups.
At the opening session of the MTF Public-Private Dialogue, delegates focused on promoting closer cooperation in the mining sector in the Asia Pacific region, innovation-driven growth, as well as social responsibility and common development. The mining, mineral and metal industries contribute significantly to socio-economic development, job creation, poverty reduction, infrastructure development and narrowing the development gap in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the afternoon, the plenary of session of the MTF focused on evaluating the results of yesterday’s workshop and the Public – Private Dialogue, and set out the MTF work plan in 2017.
HRWDG and GoFD co-organized the Symposium on Promoting the Employment of Persons with Disability. Delegates held in-depth discussions on laws and regulations, international frameworks on disability integration, education and training; exchanged best practices in integrated employment and opportunities for persons with disability.
The Export Certificate Workshop organized by the FSCF PTIN (SCSC) ended its second working day. Outcomes of the workshop will feed into the discussions of the Food Security Week held in Can Tho this coming August.
Today, partners from the Automotive Dialogue (AD) held bilateral meetings before holding the plenary session on May 11-12, 2017.
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