The President of Organisation of Women in International Trade (OWIT), Blessing Irabor has called on African leaders to develop trade policies that will promote an inclusive trading system and ensure the full participation of women.
This was stated in a communiqué signed by the Secretary-General, OWIT, Nigeria, Judith Idialu after a two-day sensitisation workshop on trade protocol and agreement organised by OWIT in collaboration with Deitsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) held recently in Lagos.
The event brought together women members of the organised private sector such as members of trade associations, chambers of commerce, small and medium scale business, private sector associations trade experts on trade policy, trade protocols and agreements, and trade facilitation. It was made possible under the Trade Facilitation West Africa (TFWA) programme funded by the European Union, USAID, German and Netherlands governments.
Read also: ‘How Amnesty Programme is neglecting women’
She said that trade policy initiatives must address the challenges that are unique to women in trade. Reforms should be based on a thorough understanding of their impact not only as a country as a whole, but also on specific segments of the population.
Irabor said, “To date, most trade policy initiatives have focused on addressing these concerns by facilitating access to finance, market information and networks, and capacity building and training. Such initiatives are certainly useful, but establishing a more enabling environment for inclusive trade requires going further and making changes to the international trade arena that address particular challenges facing women.”
offer more protection and increased profits.”
Also speaking at the event, Representative from the Office of Trade Negotiation Nigeria, Amara Okenwa, highlighted government’s response regarding complying with their obligations such as the establishment of the National Trade Facilitation Committee, general domestic efforts at automation, harmonisation and simplification of processes for facilitating ease of doing business and trading across borders implemented by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC, adding that these efforts are capable of improving Nigeria’s Trading Across Borders (TAB) indicators.
Leave a Reply