Dear Members of the Women Leader’s Network,
Following the first invitation to the 14th APEC Women Leaders Network (WLN) Meeting on 27 November 2008, I am delighted to inform you that the Committee has put together a compelling line-up of events including prominent speakers for the two-day event.
This year’s theme Women and Sustainable Development in APEC is in line with APEC 2009’s theme of sustaining growth and connecting the region. In addition to promoting the participation of women in economic and trade-related activities, this Meeting serves as a platform for APEC women leaders to network and share their insights and experiences with key decision-makers within APEC.
Together with the WLN Meeting, Singapore will also host the APEC Digital Economy Forum for Women on 3 August 2009. The Forum is organised by the Asia Pacific Women’s Information Network Center (APWINC) with the support of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) of Singapore.
Speakers
To ensure an exciting mix of speakers who can share different perspectives, the Committee has planned for many distinguished speakers. Here is a list of some of the confirmed speakers:
- Professor Chan Heng Chee, Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the United States
- Ms Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder, Families and Work Institute
- Mdm Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, President, Vietnam Women’s Union
- Justice Annabelle Bennett, Judge, Federal Court of Australia
- Ms Andrina Lever, Co-Founder of WLN; President, Lever Enterprises
- Ms Myrna T. Yao, Chairperson, National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women
- Dr Chonchanok Viravan, Immediate Past President, Business & Professional Women (BPW) International
Programme
A draft programme for the 14th WLN Meeting can be downloaded here (PDF, 10.5KB). We are finalising a few more exciting inclusions. The finalised programme line-up will be sent to you at a later date.
We are delighted and honoured to have Professor Chan Heng Chee deliver the keynote address on Day One of the WLN Meeting.
Prof. Chan, the Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the United States, had previously served as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and was concurrently the High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico. Prof. Chan has received a number of awards including Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters from the University of Newcastle, Australia; and the University of Buckingham (United Kingdom).
Named International Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 1998, and winner of Singapore’s inaugural Woman of the Year Award, Prof. Chan will share her wealth of experiences with WLN participants in her keynote address titled Women in APEC: Challenges & Aspirations for the Future.
Day Two opens with a timely topic addressing the current economic situation. Titled Weathering the Storm: Advancing Women’s Economic Opportunities in the Current Financial Climate, this session includes a panel discussion on what economies can do individually as well as collectively to address the economic crisis.
Thereafter, WLN participants can choose to attend any one of the three concurrent workshops. Depending on interests, participants can have a more in-depth and free-flowing discussion in a smaller-group setting. The three streams of workshops are:
- Stream 1: Women in Information & Communication Technology (ICT)
- Stream 2: Women in Tripartism and Social Enterprise
- Stream 3: Work-Life Integration
On the morning of 6 August 2009, WLN participants can join a half-day tour of some of Singapore’s places of interest. WLN participants will be treated to a unique blend of the Singapore experience – a mixture of cultures and languages, tradition and modernity, cosmopolitan and heartland living.
Meeting Venue
The WLN Meeting will be held at the Raffles City Convention Centre (RCCC) from 4 to 5 August 2009. Strategically located in central Singapore, RCCC occupies the 4th floor of Raffles City Shopping Centre, which is easily reached by major expressways and enjoys a direct link to the City Hall MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) Interchange Station. RCCC is connected to two of Singapore’s top hotels – Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel, The Stamford. Apart from these two hotels, there are other reputable hotels within the vicinity for WLN participants to choose from. For more information on RCCC, please visit the website at http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/about_singapore/highlights/index/to_see/raffles_city_sc.html
Official language for WLN and DEW
English is the official language during WLN Meeting and DEW which is in line with previous WLN Meetings and standard practice, There will be no translation and/or interpretation services provided.
Registration for WLN and DEW
The registration fees for WLN are S$400 (about US$270) and S$500 (about US$340) for early bird special and normal registration respectively. The fees for DEW as well as other administrative and registration details will be sent to you once they are finalised.
Should you require any information, please feel free to contact Ms Karen Kwan or Ms Rosalind Loy at this email address: MCYS_Women_Desk@mcys.gov.sg.
