The co-chairs of the Informal Working Group (IWG) — Ambassador Clara Delgado of Cabo Verde, Ambassador Patricia Benedetti of El Salvador and Ambassador Simon Manley of the United Kingdom — looked back at key achievements in 2024. They highlighted the specific wording on trade and gender in the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Declaration WT/MIN(24)/DEC, the launch of a new trade policy tool in support of women entrepreneurs’ financial inclusion, and progress on “sharing experiences” on gender-responsive trade policy making.
Progress was also made in integrating gender issues into the work of various WTO bodies, such as the Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), they added.
Members welcomed the co-chairs’ initiative to launch consultations on the IWG’s work plan for 2025-26, including on potential outcomes at the 14th Ministerial Conference, to be held in March 2026.
Members also agreed to launch the second edition of the International Prize for Gender Equality in Trade to support members’ work on inclusive trade. The call for applications is now open via this form.
Presentations
The United Kingdom presented its work on the implementation of gender equality in free trade agreements (FTAs), including the UK-New Zealand FTA and the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
The importance of mainstreaming gender across trade agreements was highlighted. In addition, cooperation provisions are key for collecting gender-disaggregated data and for monitoring the impact of trade agreements on women, the UK said. The United Kingdom also noted that it is crucial to secure an institutional mechanism for discussing and implementing cooperation activities with stakeholders such as trade associations and women entrepreneurs.
Australia introduced its recently launched “International Gender Equality Strategy for a Safer and More Prosperous Indo-Pacific and the World”. Developed following consultations with over 600 stakeholders, the strategy aims to support gender equality in trade commitments at the WTO and other international and regional organizations
Mexico reported on a recent capacity-building workshop on trade and gender organized by the countries of the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA) in coordination with the WTO Secretariat. Bringing together experts, government representatives, academics and women entrepreneurs, the event looked into the challenges and opportunities in mainstreaming gender into global trade.
The International Trade Centre (ITC) provided an update on the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund, launched at MC13. This WTO-ITC initiative will provide grants and technical assistance regarding digital trade to support export growth in women-led businesses. Following a call for applications in September 2024, the Fund will work with a number of business support organizations to be announced in early March.
The WTO Secretariat provided an update on its activities, highlighting training programmes, collaborative research projects, and outreach initiatives. The Secretariat emphasized progress in capacity-building initiatives with the Latin American Integration Association, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and various universities. A thematic course on trade, gender and agriculture will be launched with the FAO in 2025 as a follow-up to the WTO-FAO Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2024.
The Trade and Gender Office also underlined its collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on drafting a recommendation (General Recommendation number 40) on women’s access to decision-making positions and its ongoing work.
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