22-24 January 2024
• Hon. Leota Laki Lamositele, Minister for Commerce, Industry &
Labour, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Talofa lava!
• On behalf of the British High Commission and International Trade
Centre, our delivery partner for the UK Trade Partnerships
Programme, may I extend a very warm welcome to everybody taking part in the Pacific Women in Export Leadership Workshop.
• I am especially grateful to those of you who have travelled
internationally to join us today. We very much appreciate the time and commitment you are devoting to this learning activity and I’m
confident it will prove a rewarding experience and sound investment, to help you to build and grow your businesses well into the future.
• Over the course of the next few days you will be taking part in
sessions designed to equip you with new business tools, develop
your skills and learn together through shared experience, to help you prepare to expand your business into new export markets with
confidence.
• Why is this important? Increasing women’s economic empowerment is a prominent feature of the global development agenda, and while significant progress has been made, we are still a long way from reaching gender equality. This workshop, tailored for women
business leaders, aims to provide you with access to knowledge,
resources, and networks to expand your business internationally.
More broadly, the UK Trade partnerships programme aims to support gender inclusive policy reforms; and leverage public and private partnerships to redress the gender imbalance in trade.
• At the macro-level, the British government’s approach to trade for
development focuses on improving access to the UK market, including through trade agreements with Pacific Island countries such as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which deliver significant duty and tariff reductions aimed at stimulating trade. By maximizing the benefits of these trade agreements to encourage more trade from the Pacific Islands to the UK we can promote economic prosperity, support the creation of new jobs, contribute to sustainable growth and reduce poverty.
• The UK also promotes trade and women’s economic empowerment across multilateral fora by showing leadership at the World Trade Organization (WTO) where the UK co-chairs the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender – and by supporting the work of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This work feeds in to the efforts being made to towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 on Gender Equality.
• Those are lofty ambitions, and you would be forgiven for thinking, well what does this have to do with me and my business? The answer is that this workshop is designed to empower you, as women business leaders in the Pacific, to access the full benefits from the international trade frameworks in place to drive your companies’ exports into the highly competitive markets of the UK, EU and Oceania. With this in mind, the agenda ahead of you is focused on providing practical tools, support and guidance along with the opportunity to share experience.
• Since its inception in 2019 UK TPP has been gradually expanding
across the Pacific region. In Samoa we have supported companies to attend the Olympia Beauty trade show and Professional Beauty in London where the Pacific’s natural and organic beauty products were showcased to international buyers. And UKTP used the Rugby World Cup in France last year as a platform for showcasing Samoan
products when the national team played England. We will hear shortly from Samoa’s Kuki about the company’s experience of working with and the positive impact UKTP has had on their business.
• Ladies and Gentlemen, increasing women’s participation in
international trade is an integral element of advancing women’s
economic empowerment for governments, the private sector and
society – we all have a role to play, and in this context I would like to close by acknowledging and once again thanking the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Labour, the Samoan Association of
Manufacturers and Exporters, and Ms Jarmila Sarda from ITC for
valued support for and contributions to this workshop.
• Finally, may I wish the Pacific Women in Export Leadership
Workshop every success and that you find it an enjoyable, productive and rewarding experience. I very much hope you find the workshop of real practical benefit in developing your export capability – and I welcome your feedback on how we can further improve and refine our offer to you in the future.
• Soifua ma ia manuia
