On the evening of July 29, the Asia-Pacific Women Cooperative Leaders Summit officially opened in Hanoi. The event aims to concretize the Party and State's policy on strengthening foreign affairs activities and developing the collective economy.
The conference was attended by: Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung; President of the International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific, Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav; President of the International Cooperative Alliance Women's Committee Asia-Pacific Chitose Arai; Director of the International Labor Organization Office in Vietnam Ingrid Christensen; Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union Tran Lan Phuong, President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance Cao Xuan Thu Van; and nearly 100 delegates attending, representing member organizations, international organizations in Vietnam and central departments, ministries and branches of Vietnam.
The Asia-Pacific Women Cooperative Leadership Summit is an annual event on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific International Cooperative Alliance Board of Directors meeting. This is a forum for female leaders, directors and businesswomen in the region to better identify challenges and emerging issues in cooperative economic development, connect, and share experiences in encouraging women to participate in and run cooperatives.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van - President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance - said that the Vietnamese Government has issued many mechanisms and policies to encourage women's participation in collective economic development and cooperative building. The Government's program on collective economic development and cooperatives for the period 2021 - 2025 emphasizes the requirement to " Continue to establish cooperatives and cooperative unions owned by young people, women, veterans, and ethnic minorities "; The National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2021-2030 sets the target " The rate of female directors/owners of enterprises and cooperatives must reach at least 27% by 2025 and 30% by 2030" .
Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van - President of Vietnam Cooperative Alliance - delivered the opening speech at the conference.
Accordingly, in January 2023, the Government approved the Project "Supporting cooperatives managed by women, creating jobs for female workers by 2030". The project, chaired by the Vietnam Women's Union, signed agreements with the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to implement many activities to promote women's participation in the operation and management of cooperatives as well as proactively propose policies, programs/projects to develop the collective economy and cooperatives.
"However, there is still a gap in gender equality in this area, the proportion of women participating in leadership and management accounts for only about 25% of the total number of leaders of cooperatives and most of them only hold positions from deputy level down. The capacity of the cooperative leadership team, especially women, is still limited in knowledge and skills in financial management, production and business organization, technology application, and trade promotion. Therefore, promoting women's participation in cooperatives is an important requirement, contributing to the development of a dynamic, effective, sustainable collective economy and socio-economic development in general" - the Chairman of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance emphasized.
Coming to congratulate the conference, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung warmly welcomed the distinguished guests who came to Vietnam to attend this important conference. The Head of the Central External Relations Commission stated that in Vietnam, the collective economy and cooperatives are an important component of the national economy, playing a particularly meaningful role and contribution to the socio-economic development of Vietnam.
Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung, delivered a congratulatory speech at the conference.
"The initiative to organize the Asia-Pacific Women Cooperative Leaders Summit is very meaningful and consistent with the theme of the International Cooperative Day 2024, which is "Cooperatives build a better future for all". Hopefully, the conference will also bring opportunities for connection and trade between Vietnamese cooperatives and cooperative partners in the region to promote cooperation, joint ventures and associations; connect markets and technology in the future" - the Head of the Central External Relations Commission emphasized.
To further promote the potential and strengths of women, Mr. Le Hoai Trung hopes that through the conference, Countries will increase experience sharing in promoting and raising awareness among the community and leaders of the role and contributions of women to the sustainable development of cooperatives; connecting female entrepreneurs and female cooperative leaders with the Government and authorities at all levels, between female entrepreneurs and female cooperative leaders at the national, regional and international levels.
Vice President of Vietnam Women's Union Tran Lan Phuong (middle) attended the conference.
Besides, Female leaders, especially female-owned enterprises and cooperatives of countries, continue to pioneer, proactively innovate, improve production and business efficiency; green production and promote sustainable consumption; more clearly identify challenges and emerging issues for cooperative economic development and cooperatives; share experiences in advocating gender-inclusive policies for cooperatives to create a favorable legal environment for cooperatives to develop dynamically, effectively and sustainably, contributing to the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The Head of the Central External Relations Committee also requested the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to continue to proactively propose and coordinate with relevant agencies and ministries to implement joint initiatives and activities to promote the role of female managers and leaders of cooperatives and make substantial and effective contributions to economic development; ensure the presence of female members in the Board of Directors of cooperatives and the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Alliance at all levels, contributing to the implementation of the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the 2021-2030 period.
At the conference, delegates listened to presentations and opinions from experts and guests to encourage women to participate in and run cooperatives, as well as identify some challenges in the new situation with the construction and development of cooperatives.
Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung (left cover); President of the International Cooperative Alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav (second from left) visit the booth introducing products of cooperatives in Vietnam.
Also on the afternoon of July 29, the International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific (ICA-AP) coordinated with the ICA-AP Women's Committee and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance to organize a conference of the International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific Leadership Board to promote global development as well as the cooperative sector.
This regional leadership meeting is very important as the leaders focused on unifying and making decisions on issues including reports on the activities of the Committees, personnel participating in the Leadership Board, especially the ICA-AP Strategic Plan for the period 2025-2030.
Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/phat-huy-vai-tro-cua-nu-lanh-dao-hop-tac-xa-va-dong-gop-thuc-chat-hieu-qua-vao-phat-trien-kinh-te-20240729194944154.htm
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