Hosted by the WTO Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Congress will feature a High-Level Opening Session where ministers and heads of international organisations will explore how to build recovery through inclusive trade.

Civil society representatives from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines who have been appointed as ambassadors to the Congress will share their grassroots experience on women’s economic empowerment, the impact of global crises on women and how trade policy can better address women's needs.

The Congress will also include research sessions focussing on a wide range of issues, such as gender provisions in free trade agreements, ways to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on women, and how to help women and female entrepreneurs reap the benefits of international trade.

Expert authors will highlight how their findings can support sustainable trade and create a recovery targeted more effectively at women. The research sessions will be chaired by renowned researchers and high-level experts working on trade who will contribute their unique perspectives and expertise to the discussions. Government representatives will also contribute to debates, bringing their policy-making expertise and experiences to the conversations.

Policy-makers and researchers will also have the opportunity to share ideas and discuss areas for collaboration during a “speed-meeting” networking event.

Participants in the Congress will also be able to look into gender-based violence, women's economic empowerment and the role of trade as part of UN Women's Orange Campaign. They will also be encouraged to think innovatively about trade and gender at the “Ideas Bar”, which will serve as a venue for participants to propose what they think would be the ideal gender provision in a trade agreement or their ideal trade and gender agreement.

Many research institutions will contribute to the Congress, which will feature the launch by the World Trade Institute of a book on trade and gender, examining the scope for women's economic empowerment. 

More information about the Congress programme is available here.

Registration for in-person attendance is now closed but it is still possible to register for online participation.