The Youth Trade Summit on Gender is organized by the WTO and the WTO Gender Research Hub in partnership with Spain, which currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The event is a milestone between the first ever World Trade Congress on Gender, held in December 2022 — which spotlighted research on women's economic empowerment through trade — and the second edition of the Congress .

Following the call for nominations, which closed on 12 September, 59 young researchers and professionals have been nominated to attend the event and represent diverse backgrounds. Twenty-six nominees study or conduct research in universities, 18 are employed by government ministries and institutions, nine are part of research institutes and six work for international agencies.

“The nominees come from all around the world, which shows that trade and gender is a global issue now firmly established on the agenda of research and governmental institutions regardless of their location,” said Anoush der Boghossian, Head of the WTO Trade and Gender Office and founder and Chair of the WTO Gender Research Hub, noting that this global reach is reflected in the nominees, with 27% from Europe, 24% from Africa, 22% from Latin America, 17% from Asia, and 10% from North America.

The aim of the Summit is to deepen the knowledge of young researchers and professionals through a technical assistance conference on trade and gender, which will cover topics such as gender-based research data, a gender-based perspective on e-commerce, gender aspects of trade finance, as well as linkages among gender, non-tariff measures and trade in services. During working group sessions, the nominees will have the opportunity to work together to propose recommendations  on trade and gender work, among other policy and research activities.

The programme also includes the launch of the study “Investigating the Role of Youth in Gender Equitable and Inclusive Trade”, as well as an interactive session with WTO ambassadors. The Summit will also feature an event by the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), which will share the findings of a study on how gender aspects are addressed in Diagnostic Trade Integration Studies, which are country-specific analyses conducted by the EIF.

WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang and Xiana Méndez Bértolo, Secretary of State for Trade at the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism will open the Summit, followed by a panel discussion to include the perspectives of young researchers and professionals from developing countries.

The programme can be consulted here. Only sessions marked as “hybrid” are open to the public. Other sessions are in-person only and reserved for the Summit nominees.

Registration

Participation can be in person or online. All participants must complete an online application form. Participants have until 31 October 2023 (midnight) to register for in-person attendance. No on-site registrations will be accepted. After 31 October, it will still be possible to register for online participation.

More on the WTO Gender Research Hub

The WTO Secretariat launched the WTO Gender Research Hub in May 2021 to deepen understanding of the impact of trade on women and gender equality. With members coming from various international and regional organizations, universities and research institutions, the Hub brings together a wide and diverse range of expertise on trade and gender issues. It serves as an information-sharing and knowledge-gathering platform where the latest research is shared globally. It also aims to foster research partnerships, gather research to provide easier access to experts' findings, bring visibility to the work on trade and gender and promote the topic as a recognized field of research and expertise.

For more information, please contact [email protected].