Trade Impact Working Group

The historic Buenos Aires Declaration on Women and Trade shows that collaboration through the International Gender Champions can have an impact far beyond the network.

The Declaration

>>> Download the Declaration (EN, FR, ES)

Going forward to the next WTO Ministerial Conference in 2019

The Declaration represents a commitment to share best practices and build the evidence base for more inclusive trade. Under the auspices of the International Gender Champions (IGC), the Trade Impact Group calls on WTO Members and Observers to share good practices on the topics listed below.

>> Ongoing call for good practices. Please submit to the form below:

Over the next two years, going forward to the next WTO Ministerial Conference in 2019, to support the implementation of the Declaration, a series of six seminars will be held on topics including:

Financial Inclusion Seminar, 11 October 2019
Women in Digital Trade, 1 July 2019 (full programme available here)
Women and Trade in Trade Agreements, 28 March 2019 (Full audio)
Women in Global Value Chains, 1 October 2018
Enhancing Women Entrepreneurs' Participation in Public Procurement, 25 June 2018
- Opening Session: Government procurement markets and their importance for inclusive economic development: relevance for the Buenos Aires Declaration, Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment (Full Audio)
- Session 1: Understanding the links between trade, government procurement and women's empowerment: What are the economic opportunities? What is the role of the GPA? (Full Audio)
- Session 2: Enhancing the Participation of Women Owned and Women Led Businesses in Government Procurement: Practical Lessons and Country Experience
- Closing: (Full Audio)
Gender-Based Analysis of Trade Policy, 16 March 2018

These exchanges of best practices will result in a guide to help policy-makers, trade and investment institutions, and businesses make trade more gender-responsive. We invite the trade and development community to join in the discussion towards more inclusive trade.

The Historic Buenos Aires Declaration on Women and Trade

Led by the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, Arancha González, the Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone, Yvette Stevens, and the Permanent Representatives of Iceland, Högni Kristjánsson and Harald Aspelund, the group worked for a year on drafting and advocating the first ever Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment.

At the World Trade Organization’s Eleventh Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December 2017, the Declaration was handed over to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina and Chair of the Ministerial Conference, Susana Malcorra, and to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Roberto Azevêdo, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, Yvette Stevens and Arancha González. Some 127 members and observers* joined the Declaration.

In the historic Declaration, it is acknowledged that incorporating a gender perspective into the promotion of inclusive economic growth is important, and that gender-responsive policies can play a key role in achieving sustainable socioeconomic development.

It is acknowledged that inclusive trade policies can contribute to advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, which has a positive impact on economic growth and helps to reduce poverty.

In the declaration it is acknowledged that international trade and investment are engines of economic growth for both developing and developed countries, and that improving women’s access to opportunities and removing barriers to their participation in national and international economies contributes to sustainable economic development.

The need to develop evidence-based interventions that address the range of barriers that limit opportunities for women in the economy is further acknowledged.

Sustainable Development Goal 5 in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, is recalled and the commitment to effectively implement the obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is reaffirmed.

The 127 member states and observers who joined the Declaration, including:

*Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, European Union member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyrus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Republic of), Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Zambia