Xuan hailed the ideal to organise the summit as a follow-up activity of the 2022 Global Summit of Women and the 2022 ASEAN Women Leaders' Summit, which provides a chance for participants to share experience and discuss measures to promote gender equality, strengthen women’s economic power as well as the role of women in general and female entrepreneurs in particular in the current period.
She said that the position of women in the ASEAN has increased considerably through the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment, women’s increased engagement in business and skill development activities, the facilitation of business environment for women-led enterprises, the enhanced leadership of women and the encouragement of public-private partnership.
Highlighting gender equality promotion outcomes in Vietnam, Xuan noted that women are taking over 30% of seats at the National Assembly, and 50% of key leadership positions. The ratio of women engaging in the labour market has reached 48%, while the rate of women-led companies has hit 27%.
However, she said that the majority of women-led firms are small in scale and vulnerable to impacts from the outside. They also face difficulties in access to information, market, financial services as well as human resources attraction, science-technology application and digital transformation.
The Vice President expressed belief that at the event, economists, policy makers and women entrepreneurs from ASEAN countries will give valuable proposals and initiatives to create favourable conditions for women entrepreneurs, and women-led enterprises to access development resources, optimise opportunities from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and strengthen connectivity and cooperation to overcome difficulties and challenges together to recover and rise.
At the summit, jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council, participants focused on discussing the application of technology to expand, develop and protect businesses in the new reality, corporate restructuring, and connectivity expansion to act together and develop together.
