(WLN) Meeting opened Wednesday in Beijing. Chinese President Jiang
Zemin sent a congratulatory message to the meeting.
Gu
Xiulian, vice-president and First Member of the Secretariat of the
All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) hosted the opening ceremony.
More than 400 female entrepreneurs, scholars and government
officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations
from all 21 APEC member
economies attended the meeting.
In
the message, Jiang extended congratulations to the meeting on
behalf of the Chinese government, Chinese people and himself.
He
noted that the 21st century is full of opportunities and
challenges. For realization of world peace, development and
prosperity, women from Asia and the Pacific have come together,
facing up to challenges courageously. Women from the APEC region
have taken the initiative to actively involve themselves in related
development and cooperative activities of APEC and have made
important contributions to the sustainable economic development of
the region.
Jiang said he believes that women, through their active
participation in international cooperation, will surely promote
their mutual understanding, deepen their friendship, obtain more
experiences and professional skills, and play a greater role in the
development of the world economy.
State Councilor Wu Yi, who is also director of the Women and
Children Work Committee of the State Council, delivered a speech at
the opening ceremony.
She said that women, as a major force in social productions, are
confronted with more severe challenges in the wave of economic
globalization. The APEC has undertaken initiatives to promote the
development of women's human resources and to safeguard the right
of women to participate in economic affairs. The WLN has been an
important forum for the promotion of gender equality in all APEC
economies, and for exchanges and partnerships among APEC women.
The Chinese Government gives great importance to the advancement of
women, and has set equality between men and women as a basic State
policy in China's social development.
In
May this year, the State Council promulgated and began to implement
the Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001- 2010), with
the basic State policy of equality between men and women, an
important thought put forward by President Jiang Zemin, written
into the general objectives of the Program, which once again
indicates the efforts by the Chinese Government for the subsistence
and development of Chinese women and its determination for women's
equal participation in decision-making and economic development,
she said.
She said she believes that in the new century, cooperation and
common development, the spirits advocated by APEC, will be
developed and be carried forward, and that the WLN Meeting 2001 and
its results will be a great contribution to the further cooperation
between APEC economies and to the economic development of the APEC
region.
Peng Peiyun, vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress and president of the ACWF said during
the opening ceremony that the development of Chinese women is an
integral part of the development of women in the Asia-Pacific
region.
It
is of great significance that women leaders, women entrepreneurs,
women experts, women from the academia and representatives from
non-governmental organizations have come together in Beijing today
to share ideas and views on challenges and opportunities that APEC
women face in the process of economic globalization, to identify
measures to promote women's participation in economic and social
development and the integration of women in the mainstream of APEC
processes and activities.
Patricia Espinosa Torres, President of the National Institute of
Women of Mexico, Datin Hjh Edah Hi Mohd Noor, President of the
Council of Women of Brunei Darussalam, and Sue Hooper, Director of
the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada all expressed their best
wishes for the meeting in their speeches.
The three-day meeting is another great event among women since the
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995. With the theme
"Challenges and Opportunities for APEC Women in the Process of
Economic Globalization," the participants will discuss four main
topics women entrepreneurs and world markets, partnership with
women-managed small and medium-sized enterprises, women's role in
science, technology and sustainable development, and gender
mainstreaming in the APEC process and activities.
The meeting will adopt a Statement and Recommendations as a result
which will be submitted to the 8th APEC SME Ministerial Meeting,
and then submitted to the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held
in October in Shanghai.
The WLN meeting is a flexible network of women, and the annual
meetings have been convened since 1996.
( 08/22/2001)