Her Excellency Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar said that women capital development is not only what Myanmar needs but the whole ASEAN region.
She coined the phrase ‘women capital development’ from the concepts of empowering women and human capital development during her keynote address at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2017 at the Solaire, Manila, Philippines.
“Since 2004, ASEAN’s GDP growth has reached 5%, outpacing that any other region. Myanmar, as a member of the ASEAN family, has been growing rapidly as we roll out rigorous reforms and structural changes in every sector. I would also like to mention that our young entrepreneurs are amongst the most vigorous of them all. I am very happy to discover that in the recent seminar of young entrepreneurs, 49% of them are women,” Suu Kyi said.
“More and more women entrepreneurs have emerged to participate vigorously in Myanmar’s transformation, demonstrating the increasing importance of women not only in social but also in the economic sphere,” she stressed.
The State Counsellor mentioned that it is important to increase the number of girls enrolling in primary and secondary schools, improve the participation of women in the labor force, ensure better maternal outcomes, provide social protection measures, and promote the role of women in decision making.
She noted that Myanmar, as a young democracy, is fully aware of the need for the development of peoples as human beings, not just economic powerhouses.
