Philippines Hosts First WTO Training for Women-Led Small Business

• The Philippines Permanent Mission to the WTO and the WTO Trade and Gender Office organized a workshop on 29–30 September 2025
• The workshop, titled "Her Route to Foreign Markets," benefited women-owned small businesses

The Philippine Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO), jointly with the WTO Secretariat Trade and Gender Office, organized with success the training workshop entitled "Her Route to Foreign Markets" on 29–30 September 2025.

The activity sought to enhance the capacity of women-owned and women-led small enterprises to better navigate multilateral trade rules and increase their presence as future exporters.

This was the first of such training in the Philippines conducted under the WTO, using a gender approach to assist in the worldwide development of small businesses.

Being a Gender and Development (GAD) mission project, the workshop was held in Mactan Island and comprised participants from the WTO Trade and Gender Office, APEC, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and other government agencies and international organizations with mandates on trade policy.

Issues covered in sessions included value chains for tourism and agriculture, international trade agreements, market access, free trade agreements (FTAs), access to finance, and export strategy, all from gender-sensitive perspectives.

The Philippine representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Manuel A.J. Teehankee stated that continuous learning is important for the Philippines to stay informed and engaged in the global trading system.

He also stated that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was recognized as among the three best performing government agencies in 2024 on its utilization of the GAD budget by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW).

In his speech Ambassador Manuel said: "This GAD initiative is a demonstration of our conviction in a gender-responsive foreign policy. Out of this, we can break down barriers, unlock possibilities and illustrate that when rural women succeed, whole communities flourish."

The workshop included lectures, discussions, and open sessions, where participants from the government, academia, law, media and business, exchanged experiences and recommendations.

The meeting concluded with determination of priority areas for future capacity building and concrete activities for women entrepreneurs to consider, as they pursue their entry into exporting markets.

As guest of honour and keynote speaker, Representative Tutor underscored the Philippines commitment to the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment to highlight the importance of eliminating barriers and strengthening women's participation in trade.

She made it clear that engaging with WTO initiatives is as much about foreign policy as it is national development strategy thinking, and she added that the changing face of global value chains creates new opportunities for women entrepreneurs.