By Delly Waigeno – EM TV News, Port Moresby
Access to funding and financial literacy still remains the key issues for women intending to enter into business.
Secretary for Department of Youth, Religion and Community Development, Anna Solomon, said this upon returning from the recent APEC Women and the Economy meeting held in Manila, Philippines.
President of the Philippines, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, delivered his keynote speech of the forum, attended by around 800 participants representing the private sector, academia, and non-government organisations across the APEC economies.
The forum was themed “Women as Prime Movers of Inclusive Growth.”
The event has emerged as a conscious effort by female representatives from APEC member economies to take stock of past achievements, identify present and continuing barriers, and appropriate interventions, as well as support future aspirations of women as prime movers of economic growth.
Recommendations were forwarded to the Heads of Delegation at the High Level Policy Dialogue on Women and the Economy.
Secretary Solomon represented the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Religion, Delilah Gore, during the Heads of Delegation Dialogue where the private and government sectors brought out their outcomes.
“I’m glad that in PNG, we’ve made funding available at the National Development Bank for women to access. The question still lies where are they all accessing? Because a large portion of our women are in the informal sector and they still struggle. Because for you to get those loans, you need equity and most don’t have that equity. So those are still grey areas for us,” Solomon said.
