More than 150 women representatives from around the world met in Beijing Wednesday to discuss the roles that women play in politics, economics, global development and focus on the future generation of women leaders.
The two-day leadership seminar, Women's Leadership: Dynamic Forces Shaping Global Development, opened in Beijing at the joint sponsorship of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), the largest and most influential women's network in China, and the International Women's Forum (IWF), which is the foremost global women's organization.
ACWF and IWF members will meet to confer on issues such as trade, globalization, the skills development of emerging women leaders, and their roles in politics.
ACWF President Peng Peiyun, also vice-chairperson of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said that to develop human resources and to enhance capacity building has become a motive force for development in the new century.
It is of vital importance for the seminar to focus on the development of women's human resources and on the promotion of women's participation in decision-making during the process of economic globalization, she added.
Founded in 1949, the ACWF is dedicated to the advancement of Chinese women of all ethnic groups in various walks of life.
"Since the Fourth World Conference on Women convened here in 1995 when equality between women and men was declared a basic state policy, an increasing number of Chinese women have been taking up leading posts, and the contingent of women entrepreneurs in China has also grown rapidly," said Peng, the ACWF president, adding that competitions have provided a good opportunity for women to demonstrate their management and administration skills.
Luz Lajous, IWF president, said the seminar came at a very strategic moment when China had engaged in open dialogue with the women leadership on many of these topics.
"The women friends of varied careers from different countries and regions gathered here with a shared objective to discuss the effects of globalization, economics and politics --but from the female perspective," said the president, who is also former Mexican senator.
The IWF, set up in the United States in 1982 with a present membership of 3,800, is a non-profit international women's organization comprising 45 affiliates in 20 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and North America. It provides access, information, leadership exchange and education for top women leaders on issues of international concern.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2002)
