U.S.-Japan Cooperation and the APEC Women and the Economy Summit in San Francisco

September 14, 2011

Consistent with the strong commitment of the United States and Japan to work together in APEC, and their commitment to recognize women's potential and contribution to economic growth, Japan and the United States cooperated closely to organize and support the APEC Women and the Economy Summit (WES) held in San Francisco, California, September 13-16, 2011. The goal of the Women and the Economy Summit is to agree upon specific economic policy recommendations for economies to better utilize women’s potential, including their leadership to contribute to economic growth.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver the keynote address at the APEC WES on September 16. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Joe Nakano and Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Gender Equality and Financial Services of Cabinet Office Ikko Nakatsuka will attend the High Level Policy Dialog on the same day, along with the Japanese private-sector women leaders.

This year's Women and the Economy Summit is the latest example of longstanding cooperation between Japan and the United States in APEC. When Japan hosted APEC in 2010, our two governments came together to sponsor the inaugural Women's Entrepreneurship Summit in Gifu on October 1, 2010.

Japan strongly supports the U.S. initiative to hold the APEC Women and Economy Summit in 2011, responding to the Yokohama Vision where APEC Leaders expressed their will to improve women’s access to finance, education, training, technology, and health systems by promoting entrepreneurship and greater leadership for women in business and government.

In 2011 and beyond, the United States and Japan will continue to work together to take concrete actions with other APEC economies to integrate women’s economic empowerment more fully into APEC economies.