Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia, along with G20 member delegations, agreed to improve women's participation in the public procurement process, Women-20 (W20) Chair Hadriani Uli Silalahi stated during the Discussing Kartini in the Modern Age held online on Thursday.

"Along with the American delegation, we created the We Act Initiative wherein we have a goal of improving women's participation in public procurement by creating products in cooperation with ITC," she noted.

The movement is expected to be able to raise awareness over the fact that not many women-owned enterprises manage to enter procurement.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, W20 created the W-20 Sistpreneur Program that serves as an incubation initiative for women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The goal is to ensure that G20 nations can support economic empowerment for women.

This initiative did not exist before, and we should be grateful that W20 does not only hold meetings and create policies but has also created action plans, she remarked.

In fact, W20 has created a measurement that relates to achievements from policies and action plans that can be directly felt by women, especially Indonesian women.

Moreover, W20 has four priority programs that pertain to economic matters.

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These matters are also related to the previous issues highlighted during the W20 Presidency earlier held by Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Italy.

"The problems still exist, and we still try to handle them. In addition, we make sure to handle inclusivity with regard to the emerging problems and be contextual," Silalahi remarked.

Delegation nations agreed to discuss the issue of health inclusivity that plays an important role and aligns with the concerns of G20 nations.

In addition, the W20 agreed to provide inclusivity to women in villages and to not leave behind people with disabilities in the digital transformation process.

"These issues are connected to economic inclusion that is also related to MSMEs and the issue that has not been resolved is discrimination against women," she noted.

The new W20 main event will be held in July 2022, but the side events had already begun, with the premiere being held in North Minahasa, North Sulawesi, on February 14-16.

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Translator: Kuntum Khaira R, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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