Vietnamese Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh speaks at the conference. — VNA/VNS Photo Phương Hoa

The ASEAN Women CEOs Summit was held in Hà Nội today with the theme “Making changes for a stronger and more responsive women entrepreneur community”.

Addressing the summit, held by the Việt Nam Women Entrepreneurs Council under the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh said the COVID-19 pandemic has caused heavy losses to the global economy and ASEAN member nations in particular.

While holding the 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship amid the coronavirus outbreak, she noted, Việt Nam has exerted every effort to organise a range of activities in conformity with the theme of “Cohesive & Responsive”.

Regional women in general and female entrepreneurs in particular have been greatly inspired by the bloc’s commitment to efforts promoting gender equality and empowering women, made in the Chairman’s Press Statement of the ASEAN Leaders’ Special Session at the 36th ASEAN Summit on Women’s Empowerment in the Digital Age, held last June, the Vice President said.

Thinh expressed her belief that the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network will become a leading forum for regional businesswomen to lead the entrepreneur community towards economic integration and to remain united to proactively and effectively respond to the impact of the pandemic and climate change.

She also hoped that businesswomen would seize opportunities from the fourth Industrial Revolution and capitalise on ASEAN countries’ support in order to develop strongly and sustainably for a stronger and more responsive community of regional women entrepreneurs.

The summit featured four sessions on the response to COVID-19, the promotion of digital transformation and the comprehensive recovery of women-owned businesses, gender-smart investment, and the promotion of effective cooperation via networks.

A number of recommendations were approved on improving businesswomen’s access to support resources, especially from governments, credit institutions, and social organisations; developing human resources, capacity, access to new technologies, and technological literacy; boosting digital transformation in women-owned enterprises; and building a gender-responsive ecosystem for nurturing enterprises.

The ASEAN Women CEOs Summit was held ahead of the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings, which are scheduled to take place via videoconference from November 12 to 15.