New Delhi:  The Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) and World Bank jointly organised a workshop on the interlinkages between trade facilitation and gender in cross-border trade on July 12.

The primary aim of the workshop was to discuss the methodological approach for a study on understanding the reasons behind low women participation in the trade sector. It served as a platform for key stakeholders to share their perspectives on women employment in logistics and international trade as well as share knowledge and good practices on the key agenda.

During the course of the workshop, representatives of World Bank made a presentation on the best practices in terms of gender participation in trade, issues and challenges faced by Indian women in trade sector.

During his address, Satya Prasad Sahu, Senior Trade Facilitation Specialist at World Bank highlighted the initiatives being taken by the World Bank to make all its programmes gender inclusive. He also laid stress on the importance of gender inclusive policy making.

Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General, FISME in his concluding remarks stressed on the importance of women entrepreneurs in the economic growth of the country. Bhardwaj also talked about the need for taking feedback from women entrepreneurs and women-based associations to have a more robust trade policy.