Daily Times

Faisalabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FWCCI) will organise a conference on the role of women in the national economy and women empowerment here on May 30. The theme of one-day conference to be held under the auspices of Faisalabad Chamber was ‘Women Economy-Empowering World’, said a press release issued by FWCCI.

The conference would be attended by the presidents of 24 women’s chambers across the country, members of the executive body, foreign ambassadors and key members of the government’s economic team, President FWCCI Nighat Shahid said. Nighat said that Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail would be the chief guest in the conference besides whom other ministers, including Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar would address the session.

She said that the conference, which would be attended by experts in their fields, would focus on the role of women in the national economy, women’s business, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), trade and taxes and business facilitation for women.

Nighat said that the purpose of the conference was to discuss the role of women in the national economy and business, and to highlight their problems and to bring these issues before the higher authorities. She further said that the various technological innovations were being used in trade at that time, the understanding of which was necessary for women’s growth in businesses. She said that professional training of women in the e-commerce and IT sector including online business was very important to excel in modern businesses.

President FWCCI said that with the resumption of the global supply chain after Covid-19 Pandemic, new businesses had started and it was important to make women aware of this. Nighat said that at present women in Pakistan were working in small and cottage industries who had skills but the middle man paid them less by keeping high value of their skills.

She said it was important for women to be aware of e-commerce and online business so that they could register their own businesses. In that regard, she said, “We need government support so that we can train women in this regard and connect them to the international market.”

She said that currently the volume of e-commerce and online business markets in the world was $7 trillion, where there were vast job opportunities for women. Nighat said that more money could be earned from less investment in that sector, besides it was also the cause of growth in domestic foreign exchange.

She said that the government would provide internet and IT facilities to women in remote areas, which would lead to growth in the field of freelancing in the country and boost the economy of the country. She said that women in this sector could introduce domestic products through trade in the global market and increase the volume of domestic trade to take Pakistan out of the trade deficit. She said that at present women had a vital role in every sector of the country including business, and women formed 51pc of the country’s population. And the advancement of women in economic activities and business was essential for the strengthening of the national economy, she said.