Seoul, 27 May 2004 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Domingo Albert today cited the important role of Filipino women in contributing to the attainment of the Philippines’ development goals and in establishing their own niche in today’s global economy. The Secretary is currently in Korea attending the 2004 Global Summit of Women, informally called “the Davos for Women.”

Speaking before other ministers at the Ministerial Roundtable session on public/private partnerships to accelerate women’s economic progress, Secretary Albert, as one of the co-Chairs, also spoke on the relevance of the use of technology in charting a path to effective partnership between economies and business entities.

The Secretary informed the gathered women leaders that in the pursuit of relationships among economies, technology sharing is an important area where some dramatic improvements can be made. “Even among developing economies, the advanced experience of a country can be a subject for sharing with less experienced ones. But development programs need not use only  technological solutions from industrialized and highly advanced countries but from developing countries that have already made some progress in the applications of local innovations and technological solutions,” Secretary Albert said.

She cited the case of the Philippines, where there have been numerous occasions for cooperation between public research institutions and private enterprises. “What is, perhaps, laudable too are the initiatives taken by private enterprises, and I might say, the ones led and managed by Filipino women, in establishing partnerships in technology development and application,” said the Secretary.

She said that the Philippine government has recognized the important contributions of small and medium enterprises to the national economy and has provided incentives and safety nets to micro enterprises. “This is why our ‘BMBE Law’, otherwise known as the ‘Barangay Micro Business Enterprise Act’ was recently passed by our Congress and signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,” said the Secretary.

Under this law, with total assets of not more than P3 million pesos or roughly USD 60,000, micro enterprises can gain access to resources and services to engage in production, processing, including agro-processing, trading and services. “A majority of these micro enterprises are owned, managed, and led by Filipino women who operate their business right at their homes. This is a strong indication that women have the innate capacity to pursue entrepreneurial activities, a natural quality born out of her role in the home,” Secretary Albert added.

Secretary Albert explained that women-run enterprises in the Philippines have a greater chance at market competition with the availability of modern technology. To cite an example of collective efforts toward this purpose, she mentioned a UNIFEM-sponsored interregional program based at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, known for its acronym WINNER (Women into the New Network  for Entrepreneurial Reinforcement), which has trained over 1,000 women in the use of ICT tools and networked their enterprises for the global marketplace. The WINNER project is in line with the DFA’s economic diplomacy program.

“These women belong to community-based associations or NGOs which are  partners of the program for guiding and assisting women in their business ventures. About 800 products from these enterprises are now viewed by foreign buyers mostly from Europe and USA, on the program’s portal www.winner-tips.org at the rate of 2,000 visits monthly,” Secretary Albert said.

“Already these women are linked to buyers and would-be partners in many parts of the country, and together they complete the production chains that are crucial to earning our women’s competitive advantage in the global market place. Thus, act locally, think globally, is the spirit of entrepreneurism that is gaining momentum in building business relationships for our women,” she added.

The 2004 Global Summit of Women in Seoul has brought in a total of 54 participating ministers and deputy ministers as well as more than 800 delegates from 84 countries – the most number of registrants in the Summit’s 14-year history. This wide representation has underscored the continuing promotion of women’s participation in the global market, with this year’s Summit focusing on accelerating women’s economic development with an emphasis on cross-border business alliances.
 
The Philippine private sector delegation was led by Mina Gabor, President of the Philippine Small and Medium Enterprises Development or PHILSMED and Marilyn Ong of the Women Business Council of the Philippines as well as representatives from Microsoft Philippines. END.