Report of Third Capacity Building Workshop
Third Capacity Building Workshop on Gender, Trade Policy and Export Promotion for the South Asia Region
28th August to 1st September 2006,
New Delhi
A Report
Organised by:
Commonwealth Secretariat, Ministry of Commerce, UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office, Dfid, Gender and Trade Initiative (SOFCAR)
1. The Third Commonwealth Regional Workshop for Capacity building on Gender, Trade Policy and Export Promotion for South Asia was held in New Delhi from 28th August to 1st September, 2006. The Programme of the Workshop is at Annex-I. The Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with the Department of Commerce, Government of India, SOFCAR and UNIFEM organized the programme. Participants of the workshop were drawn interalia from concerned government agencies dealing with commerce, women’s affairs, tourism and from amongst business chambers and civil society organisations in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Representatives of regional and multilateral agencies also participated in the workshop. A list of participants is included in Annex- II.
2. The Workshop was inaugurated by Shri Jairam Ramesh, the Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, India.
3. Welcoming the participants Mrs Sarojini Ganju Thakur, Adviser, Commonwealth Secretariat stated that the programme owes its genesis to two books - one on Gender Mainstreaming in the Multilateral Trading System and the other on Linking Women Producers and Workers with Global Markets. The programme attempts to embed analysis of the issues raised in these books into action and work towards sensitization and building the capacity of government and other concerned stakeholders relating to gender aspects of trade. She added that the Workshop is a part of the wider initiative of the Gender Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat which has been working on integration of gender concerns in macroeconomic policies, debt management, gender budgets and so on. The Commonwealth Secretariat also adopted the Valetta Statement on Multilateral Trade at the Heads of Government last year and called on the developed countries to demonstrate the political courage and will to give more than they receive in this Round, particularly in the negotiations on agriculture and market access, as their own longer term prosperity and security depend on such an approach. The statement also recognises that developing countries must also demonstrate flexibility and commitment to ensure a successful outcome to the Round.
4. In his opening remarks Mr. G.K. Pillai, Special Secretary, Department of Commerce in Govt. of India stated that he has observed in the exports sector in India, reverse discrimination of women i.e. preference shown by some of the export sectors especially Gems & Jewellery, Textiles and Electronics for women employees. He further observed that socio-cultural barriers hold back women from performing their best. The problems which need to be taken care of in order to enable the women to be productive, especially in the unorganized sector, are in terms of access to facilities such as transport, crèche, canteen, medical care, etc.. He also mentioned that 10-15 lakhs additional job opportunities are expected to be created in the exports sector, of which 50% would become available to women.
5. In his inaugural address, Mr Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government emphasized on efforts of the government at reduction of poverty through employment generation. He underscored the importance of empowering the poor through community mobilization schemes. He recognized the fact that the impact of trade liberalization on gender concerns have not been accorded their due importance. He suggested that there is a need to understand impacts at the ground level by undertaking research and referred to studies which have shown that rural districts which have been more exposed to trade have seen a relatively less decline in poverty reduction. He identified the workshop as an important initiative to deal with such issues and build capacities of concerned stakeholders. He also highlighted the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in the last few months to link the programmes of export promotion with women’s self-help groups in leather, agriculture, horticulture, handicrafts, handlooms and shellac, grant of backward region fund of Rs. 15 crores to expand economic activity to 250 poor districts for export promotion by involving Export Promotion Councils.
6. The inaugural session ended with the vote of thanks by Mrs. Firoza Mehrotra, Deputy Regional Director UNIFEM. Ms. Mehrotra highlighted the role of UNIFEM in strengthening the work on gender and trade linkages and advocating for mainstreaming of gender in the multilateral trading system. This was followed by the formal release of the UNIFEM-SOFCAR publication on ‘WTO and Gender Concerns in South Asia” by the Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, India.
