The Organisation of Women in Trade (OWIT), a trade and investment support group that works to improve women’s knowledge and skills about trade laws, policies, rules, and procedures, will hold a four-day conference in Abuja that will have a lot of impacts.
This year’s African Women Trade Conference will be hosted by OWIT Nigeria in collaboration with OWIT Zimbabwe, OWIT Nairobi, and OWIT South Africa, according to a statement signed by the organization’s president, Mrs Blessing Irabor-Oza of Nigeria.
According to her, the conference will aim to improve the representation of African women-owned businesses by integrating them into regional and global value chains. It will help establish a better understanding of the connections between gender and trade actions on the African continent and create a platform for African women in trade to navigate potential opportunities for trade on the Nigerian market, build active partnerships, and leverage existing networks.
Irabor-Oza confirmed that the four-day conference, sponsored by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ-ECOWAS), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the African Women & Youth Empowerment Group (AWYEG), is scheduled to begin with a pre-conference summit on policy dialogue for Women to trade under AfCFTA (AWEYEG).
On the 28th and 29th of September, the major conference will be held with the theme “Positioning African Women for the Next Big Opportunity in the Regional and Global Marketplace.”
She affirmed that the discussions at the conference are anticipated to move beyond gender and trade to an examination of the benefits and participants of regional and international trade, as well as how to increase the number of participants in the trade.
“A post-conference summit, which is slated to hold on the 30th will be a consultative engagement on AfCFTA by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The summit will bring the conference to an end with a glamorous award night, where an award of excellence for exemplary service will be presented for outstanding services.
“United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is scheduled to hold a post-conference summit on AfCFTA on the 30th, which will serve as a consultative forum (UNECA). The summit will conclude the conference with a glamorous awards ceremony, during which an award of excellence for exemplary service will be presented.”
“The conference will bring together at least 200 participants from 150 travel-eligible African regions and beyond. Women entrepreneurs, academics, private sector operators, civil society organisations, trade unions, financial institutions, regional and international trade organisations, international development partners, government entities, and border agencies will be among the participants.”
“This conference, as organised by OWIT Nigeria, provides an opportunity for participants to analyse the channels of interaction between trade and gender, as well as discuss the direction of focus for donors and institutions on women empowerment through trade,” she maintained.