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eTrade for Women initiative wants to

Women masterclass promote women’s digital
economic empowerment,” said
Torbjörn Fredriksson, in charge of
For the masterclass, Ms. UNCTAD’s ICT policy section.
Angelovska will be joined by
instructors from companies “One way to do this,” he said, “is
such as Booking.com and to inspire more women digital
Seos.si. entrepreneurs. The other is to
give women digital entrepreneurs
Sessions will cover the ins a bigger voice in policymaking.”
and outs of growing an online UNCTAD is organizing the
business, such as search engine masterclass with the finance
optimization and social media ministry and the Macedonian
marketing, and how to turn raw E-commerce Association. digital knowledge and skills they need to
data into digital intelligence. The association’s secretary succeed.
general, Victor Stojkoski, says
But the participants will they believe that a better future for The masterclass in North Macedonia will
also learn how to voice their North Macedonia can be created be followed by similar sessions in China,
concerns to government “by embracing digitalization and Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico
officials so that new policies becoming a smart society.” and Rwanda, delivered by the other six
affecting e-commerce make UNCTAD eTrade for Women advocates.
it easier for women to do In integral part of building such The eTrade for Women initiative is
business online. a society, he says, is helping financially supported by the Dutch
“Overall, the eTrade for women entrepreneurs build the government.

Celebrating the contributions to people’s lives, Approximately 26 million farmers grow

value of cotton both as a fibre and a source of cotton, in 75 countries. Growing cotton
livelihood.
and processing it into, for example,
textiles and apparel, provides jobs and
“Cotton’s many industrial incomes to approximately 100 million
applications make it an ideal families worldwide.
You are rarely too far from
something made of or foundation for upgrading and Cotton is a drought-resistant crop,
diversification strategies that
containing cotton.
allow producing countries providing reliable income to farmers in
to benefit more from trade,” areas where agriculture is under serious
In clothing, linens, furniture,
mattresses, vehicles, dollar UNCTAD Secretary-General threat from climate change and/or
bills and much more, cotton Mukhisa Kituyi said. recurrent drought.
is always around us. It’s the Incomes for 100 million families Cotton occupies just 2.1% of the world’s
most abundantly produced
natural fibre in the world, yet arable land, yet it meets 27% of the
we rarely celebrate it. world’s textile needs. It is also one of the
most important traded commodities, with
an annual traded value of approximately
That is set to change on 7 US$8 billion.
October, when UNCTAD
and its partners will mark
the first World Cotton Day The cotton value chain is long, with
in Geneva, Switzerland, in a multiple processing steps, leading to
investment, job creation and industrial
global celebration of cotton’s
upgrading.
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