By Ping Fu
It was an honor to be invited as a delegate to represent the private sector at APEC (American-Pacific Economic Cooperation) by the White House and the Department of State. I participated in the working draft of the Declaration of San Francisco, under the Chairmanship of U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, which has been officially adopted. The 21 economies who are the APEC leaders expressed their will to work together to promoting entrepreneurship and greater leadership for women in business and government. The four pillars of initiatives are: access to market, women leadership, capacity building and access to capital. In 2011 and beyond, APEC economies will take concrete actions to realize the full potential of women, integrate them more fully into APEC economies, and harness their talents.
APEC by the numbers: 21 economies represented, 40% of the world's population live in APEC economies, 55% of global GDP accounted for by APEC economies, 58% of US Exports purchased by APEC economies, 43% of world trade accounted for by APEC economies, and 2.7 billion consumers. This APEC Forum was the largest set of high-level diplomatic meetings held in the state of California in 60 years, topping the 1945 UN Charter event.
Hillary Clinton delivered an inspiring keynote speech at the Women's economic summit on Friday: the key message was - supporting women in economic policy is not just right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.
You can watch a video of the speech here.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/09/172605.htm
Ping Fu is CEO and President of Geomagic.
(Photo Credit © Zoe Lonergan/Orange Photography)
