Ambassador Clara Manuela da Luz Delgado Jesus of Cabo Verde, co-chair of the IWG, underlined the significance of the IWG's first meeting of the year taking place in close proximity to International Women's Day and MC13.

Ambassador Ana Patricia Benedetti Zelaya of El Salvador, also co-chair of the IWG, outlined several member-led advances in gender equality announced at MC13. These include the launch of the Compendium of Financial Inclusion Initiatives for women entrepreneurs, a practical tool for inclusive trade policymaking. The compendium was launched jointly by the IWG, and the Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Working Group, in collaboration with the WTO Secretariat and the International Trade Centre.

At MC13, the IWG co-chairs also released their “Joint Statement on Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Trade Growth through Gender Equality and Building a Gender-responsive WTO” (WT/MIN(24)/6). This contains important commitments that will help members take the work on trade and gender to the next level and achieve concrete results in mainstreaming gender issues into the WTO, said Ambassador Benedetti.

Ambassador Benedetti also drew attention to the MC13 Ministerial Declaration (WT/MIN(24)/W/12/Rev.1), which recognizes that women's economic empowerment in trade contributes to economic growth and sustainable development. “It also recognizes the work of the WTO on the topic, outlining capacity building and sharing experiences as essential initiatives, two key pillars of our work and of the IWG,” she noted.

International Prize for Gender Equality in Trade

To mark International Women's Day, the co-chairs launched the International Prize for Gender Equality in Trade, which seeks to recognize gender-responsive policies and initiatives. Members and observer governments wishing to be recognized have until 31 May 2024 to submit their policy initiatives. Four categories of prizes will be awarded at a special ceremony during the WTO Public Forum later this year.

IWG achievements and next steps

Looking back at the IWG's achievements, co-chair Ambassador Simon Manley of the United Kingdom emphasized the group's significant strides in bolstering gender-responsive policy making and integrating gender equality into WTO activities. These achievements are the result of members' technical work on issues such as data collection, the impact of regional trade agreements on women, and exploring gender dimensions in development programmes, with a focus on Aid for Trade. Members have also started exploring the links between WTO agreements, WTO negotiations and gender equality, noted Ambassador Manley.

The co-chairs also shared their vision on advancing work on trade and gender post-MC13. “As part of our main objective and as outlined in our Joint Statement, we have put mainstreaming gender in the WTO at the core of our work,” said Ambassador Manley. “We are keen to gradually ensure that gender equality is included in the discussions right across the WTO, whether during technical discussions in regular committees, during transparency exercises like trade policy reviews, the Aid for Trade Monitoring and Evaluation Exercise, at the General Council and Ministerial Conferences,” he added.

The United Kingdom and Cabo Verde said they will report back on trade policy work they have conducted in relation with gender equality during their upcoming Trade Policy Review exercise. They encouraged other IWG members to follow suit.

The co-chairs also proposed to continue work with the MSMEs Group and the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions. In addition, they said it is important to develop new policy tools on inclusive policymaking, proposing that members focus on gender-disaggregated data and statistics.

Several delegations commented on the work accomplished at MC13, highlighting the efforts of members, the co-chairs and the Secretariat, to deliver the MC13 outcomes on trade and gender equality. Some members acknowledged the co-chairs' Joint Statement and expressed their support to their leadership and vision for future work in the IWG, including the objective of mainstreaming gender across the organization.

Delegations also praised the stand-alone, dedicated paragraph on women's economic empowerment that members were able to agree on in Abu Dhabi. Moving forward, delegates reaffirmed their dedication to advancing gender equality.

Updates

Australia informed members that it has joined the International Trade Action Group and the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA), an initiative geared towards improving women's access to trading opportunities, while Brazil announced it is now also a member of the GTAGA. These initiatives strengthen the global commitment to promoting gender equality in trade and fostering partnerships among member states, said several members.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) presented ways to enhance trade inclusion for women through initiatives like the TradePost project, which aims to reduce trade barriers. An awards ceremony at the Public Forum will highlight efforts to advance gender equality within the trade domain.

Anoush der Boghossian, Head of the WTO Trade and Gender Office, outlined the Secretariat's agenda for 2024-2025. This includes expanding training for government officials and researching the impact of gender provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs) in collaboration with other organizations. The WTO Trade and Gender Office will also work jointly with the WTO Gender Research Hub to offer capacity building and mentoring opportunities to the young delegates who participated in the Youth Trade Summit on Gender held in November 2023.

In 2025, the WTO and the WTO Gender Research Hub will organize the second edition of the World Trade Congress on Gender, focusing on innovation.

The Secretariat will also release new policy tools during the Aid for Trade Global Review 2024. These will include the inclusion of gender indicators in Aid for Trade programming and a new database mapping gender-responsive trade policies.