Ms. Myrna Yao, Chairperson of the NCRFW,
Deputy Director Jerry Clavecillas,
Empowered women leaders in business and civil society,
Fellow Civil Servants,
Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

First of all, let me welcome you for joining us this morning.  This is the first of a series of orientation seminars of DFA career diplomats on GAD-based entrepreneurship among our women micro/small businesses and how this idea can be woven into our economic diplomacy initiative under my stewardship.  I am told that this seminar will be on a roving basis, which means from here we shall go to the provincial extension offices of DFA and even in our foreign posts.  Secondly, let me congratulate the Technological Information Promotion System, initially a Technical Cooperation for Developing Countries program of UNDP but now has embraced a gender-responsive thrust through its WINNER Program.

Let me begin by defining the main elements of my short message: global economy, e-market and women business players/models, global models.

One of the important settings of inter-country cooperation in our times is the emergence of the phenomenon of globalization.  Like an onrushing vehicle for wide ranging reforms in our Twenty-First Century, globalization cannot be stopped.  However, we can influence its direction; we can cushion its impact; and we can prepare to use it as an instrument for improving the conditions of the greater majority of our people.

But one might ask: what really is globalization?  In brief, it is about interconnected communities, integrating markets, interdependent lives and interlocking aspirations for a vibrant livable society for all.

There are three facets of opportunity under the globalization regime:

· building business relationships for sustainable growth
· pushing the limits of our production capacities
· exploiting to the fullest our potentials as economic players in the global marketplace

In our interconnected economies today, these three facets of opportunity can be seized by everyone with the motivation and the skill to turn the market conditions into his/her favor.  And with the information and communication  technology tools, favored are the women entrepreneurs who operate close to their homes and communities.  I am told that 99.6 % of the country’s manufacturing sector are micro/small/medium enterprises.  About half of these are owned/managed by women.  In the latest report of the Department of Trade and Industry, in the first half of 2005, out of 166, 445 new business name registrants, 47 % or 77, 877 are women-owned enterprises, while 42 % are run by men, with the rest identified as cooperatives.

The recognition of the capacity of women in our society is no longer a matter for debate. It is given.  While other societies aspire for women’s empowerment, women as leaders and achievers, entrepreneurs and innovators in the Philippines have been in the loop of developmental progress and economic growth.

I recently headed a mission to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  I was heading an official delegation for the JCM which is supposed to be a bi-annual bilateral meeting, but which met last in Manila in 1999.  I was able to organize a private sector PCCI delegation of more than 30, half of them women.

Towards the end of the official meeting, the women segment of the PCCI delegation were pleasantly able to meet with a few Saudi ladies which resulted in an invitation for the Filipino women to return to Saudi Arabia and help train their women in entrepreneurship.

Because of the rigid social structure and cultural nuance of the Kingdom, women are confined to the home with very limited participation in public affairs, community responsibilities and business.

There is a sequel to this.

In the exquisite beauty of the postcard city of Montreaux, Switzerland where I attended a four-day Executive Forum on Services Exporting, the final meeting was a brainstorming on the issue of the International Trade Center’s (our host) participation in Gender, Trade and Development nexus and the Philippines was one of the close to twenty invited resource persons out of more than 200 attending the Forum.

Naturally, I mentioned my experience in the Riyadh Joint Commission meeting which caught the imagination of a lot of participants as a very concrete project with palpably tremendous implication on women empowerment, in a highly closed and conservative societal and cultural setting with women as the prime movers.

After at least three intensive brainstorming of this kind which was carried back to Geneva in the morning I was to board my plane to the Philippines, the ITC and the group drew up a menu of options and business models which might be developed for ITC technical assistance.

This list is now with my able Executive Director, Min. Peachy Natividad, whom I have directed together with Ben Milano to consult with interested parties in this Gender meeting this morning, so that we can submit an appropriate proposal for ITC funding.  Such a proposal could be in capacity building on trade in goods and services.

Let me close by quoting the renowned author of Megatrends, John Naisbitt, “the bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players”.  Definitely, our women’s micro/small enterprises are a force to reckon with and could be a fitting model for the way in global business and development initiatives!

Thank you and good day.  END