Vice President Truong My Hoa attends the Global Summit on Women 2004

The Global Summit o­n Women was first held in Montreal, Canada in 1990. So far, its activities have focused o­n fostering women’s participation in the development process. The main activities of the sum­mit are to support women as they build cooperative relationships related to different aspects of life; to create oppor­tunities for women from different coun­tries to exchange their experiences with socio-economic development; to update information and increase their capacities in responding to the challenges of globali­zation. Under a theme of "Leadership ­Technology- Growth", the Summit o­n Women 2004 followed discussion o­n common problems related to gender equality, including favorable conditions and difficulties, especially when women participate in leadership of economies which are strongly affected by new information technology. The summit was a forum for discussing other related topics such as global businesswomen’s activities, macro and micro policies for economic depression, using technology for economic development, and helping women balance the burdens of career and household work

At the summit, the speakers first presented their addresses and then all listeners exchanged their views and experiences.

In order to praise outstanding women in leadership, an award titled "Global award for women leader" was presented to Ms Getorus Mongela from Tanzania, the former General Secretary of the 4th World Conference o­n Women (held in Beijing, 1995) and present Chairwoman of the African Assembly; and Ms II Ho Li, from the Republic of Korea, the former Ambas­sador to Russia, Finland, and present President of the Korean Fund.

At the summit, a first-time exhibition was held for businesspeople looking for partners and business opportunities. IBM created a website at www.globe-women.comto continue the exhibition’s activities o­n internet. Businesspeople from many countries could introduce themselves as well as look for partners and interchange business transactions.

Most of the participants contributed initia­tives for strengthening women”s participation in development and fostering women’s advancement during economic globalization. So far, though women have worked hard to raise their standard of living, their positions are not equal to their potential. Many partici­pants agreed with Ms Getorus Mongela’s opinion that it was necessary to make more efforts to implement the Beijing Action Plan,.

As head of Vietnamese delegation and co-honorable Chairwomen of the summit, Vietnam Vice President Truong My Hoa delivered speeches at the press convention and the summit’s opening ceremony. She also had talks to Mozambique Prime Minister to enhance the implementation of cooperative agreements signed by the two countries. The Vice President had meetings with the chairwoman of the summit, heads of delega­tions from the Republic of Korea, Afghanistan and Burkina Faso. The counterparts expressed their admiration for Vietnam’s development and experience in linkages between government and society to foster women’s advancement. They recognized the essential contribution of Vietnamese delega­tion towards the summit’s success.

Vice President Truong My Hoa also partici­pated and delivered an address at the "Forum for Vietnamese and Korean Business Exchange", co-organized by the Vietnam Embassy to Republic of Korea and Korean organizations VCCI and CCI, which attracted 100 Korean businesspeople of the RoK and 30 businesswomen of Vietnam.

After the summit, at the invitation of the Korean government, Vice president Truong My Hoa paid official visits to other Korean VIPs, such as the President of National Assembly and the Minister of External and Commercial Affairs, in order to discuss strengthening the relationship between the two countries with a spirit of "Comprehensive partnership in the 21st century". She also met the Minister of Gender equality and the President of the Korean- Vietnam Friendship Association, as well as visited the Foreign Language university where she met students studying Vietnamese language, and studied different activities related to protecting wom­en’s rights in the Republic of Korea.