2005 APEC 10th Women Leaders' Network Meeting (APEC-WLN) will take place at Daegu's Inter-Burgo Hotel for four days August 24~27. APEC-WLN is a network of influential female leaders from 21 member economies working in government, business, academia and civil society organizations, who are meeting for the purpose of gathering opinions from women leaders and adopting statements that are then submitted to APEC Ministerial Meetings and General Assembly.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary since the initial meeting in 1996 that took place in Manila, the Philippines, this year's APEC-WLN Meeting is expected to have the presence of a record number of VIPs. From Korea, the Administrator of Small and Medium Business Kim Sung-jin, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom, and Minister of Gender Equality and Family Jang Ha-jin are expected to attend and from abroad, Ha Thi Khiet, Head of Vietnam Women's Union (ministerial rank) and Taiwanese Minister Without Portfolio, Li-yeh Fu have also expressed their intention to participate. Approximately 400 participants including Chonchanok Viravan, the President of BPW International and Andrina Lever, Canada's representative for the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) will be attending the meeting.

The agenda of the Meeting is "Prosperity of Women's Enterprises through Innovation: New Visions for Women Entrepreneurs" and on Aug. 24th and 25th, discussions and suggestions through detailed case studies are expected to be made in 'Sub-theme1: Micro-credit Policies and Programs for Women Enterprises Development,' 'Sub-theme2: Co-prosperity through Nurturing the Next Generation of Women Entrepreneurs,' 'Sub-theme3: Access to Innovative ICT Technology; U-World for Women Entrepreneurs,' and 'Sub-theme4: Promoting Trade through Networking.'

 

The Women's Expo Korea 2005 will be held during the meeting. After the closing ceremony on the 27th, a seminar on the WLN & MESG(Micro Enterprise Serve Group) Collaborative Project will be held. At the seminar, research and analysis on the progress in micro-credit program from June to August 2005 in 21 APEC member economies will be shared. The study is the result of a recommendation made at the 2004 APEC SME Ministerial Meeting in Chile, to conduct a joint project to commemorate the UN' s "Year of Microcredit."