Over 50 per cent of investments in a nation's progress and development should go towards women to achieve inclusive prosperity, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General, Mukhisa Kituyi said here today.
"At a time when the world is working towards inclusive prosperity, an ideal priority area is the awareness that more than 50 per cent of the investment in the nation's progress and development has to go in the direction of women," Kituyi said.
He was addressing the 6th Global Economic Summit here.
He pointed out that trade was one area which can help empower women and definitive policy measures should be introduced to ensure competent education, training, and access to financial assistance where required.
"It is imperative to work towards improving the quality of skills of women... There has to be a roadmap for women to move from a floor level worker to corporate management," Kituyi explained.
The UNCTAD official also said among the areas where women have seen wide acceptability is the fields of information communication and technology (ICT).
Drawing attention to the success of e-commerce globally, he stressed the need to focus on vulnerable groups.
"Many women enter the global value chains through employment in the ICT sector... There should be targeted policies to address specific concerns of women," he explained.
According to global projections, over 200 million women in South Asia alone are not accessing the Internet as much as their male counterparts.
"This has to be addressed in order for women to make use of the advantages e-commerce offers by way of market access," he said.
Kituyi also pointed out that India's foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have been among the top performers in 2016, with only 5 per cent lower inflows in 2016 compared to over 20 per cent decline in FDI among other emerging Asian economies.
"Also, India has much more greenfield investments, compared to mergers and acquisitions, bucking the global trend. This means there is still scope for new job creation," he added.
"Investing in women is not a favour but a necessity for progress," he stressed.
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