In the recent Asia pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting held in Iloilo the first week of October, the two main subjects under discussion were disaster risk reduction and the increasingly important role of women in Southeast Asian economies. Founded in 1989, with 21 members, APEC’s challenge today is to develop more micro, small, and medium industries, since SMEs have turned out to play a pivotal role in spurring economic growth in the Asia Pacific region. The United Nations estimates that the APEC region was losing up to $47 million each year due to the lack of women’s participation in the labor market. Today in the Philippines, 54% of all registered trade names are owned by women, according to Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado.
Philippine Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo told the press that in 2012, it was estimated that $89 billion could be added to the regional economy if barriers to women’s economic participation were eliminated. APEC indentified the five priority areas where women’s potential remains untapped: access to capital, access to markets, skills training, leadership, and access to technology.
The APEC forum in Iloilo launched the APEC Healthy Economic Policy toolkit, which details actions that need to be taken to improve women’s health, including workplace safety, healthcare access, work-life balance, and reproductive health.
Women in APEC countries represent over 50% of the population. In the 21 APEC countries, 600 million women are in the labor force. When health issues inhibit women from remaining in the labor force, it costs their country sizeable money. Healthy women mean healthy economies.
The Risk Reduction Framework, presented to APEC by the Philippines, involves community participation, disaster risk governance, disaster risk financing, critical infrastructure, and ecological integrity.
The framework will be presented to the leaders of the member countries when they meet here in Manila for the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting on November 18th and 19th.
*The APEC member countries are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua new Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam
Read more at http://www.mb.com.ph/apec-adopts-the-philippines-disaster-risk-framework/#w1hfK6KXP0BYzPrF.99
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