July 3-4, 2017 in Novosibirsk was the First International Congress of Women of the SCO and BRICS countries, which was opened by the Chairwoman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko.
Among the foreign participants of the event were the Ambassador of South Africa to Russia Nomasonto Maria Sibanda-Tusi, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ambika Sharma, the Deputy Director of the Department for External Relations of the All-China Women’s Federation Zhao Hongjiu, the Majilis deputy of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Irina Unzhakova, Financial director of the Free State Woman’s Agricultural Union Wanda Gagiano, the leading expert of the program “ITPO UNIDO” in the People’s Republic of China Li LingLing and others.
Within the framework of the Сongress, the BRICS public-private Dialogue “Women and the Economy” was held with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Committee for the Development of Women’s Entrepreneurship “OPORA RUSSIA”. One of the results of this event was the suggestion of women’s business circles from Russia on the establishment of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance.
The idea of creating the Alliance was announced by the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Global Rus Trade Anna Nesterova. Ministry of Economic Development of Russia in the person of Deputy Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, N. N. Strigunova agreed on further discussion and development of this initiative with the participation of Russian and foreign partners in the BRICS, women’s business associations.
According to the initiators, the Business Alliance will act to promote the development of women’s entrepreneurship on an ongoing basis. Members of the Business Alliance will be women who hold managerial positions or have founded their own business, and promote the development of women’s entrepreneurship. It is planned to discuss the initiative within the framework of the BRICS Business Forum on September 3-4 in Xiamen, China.