Resident Coordinator's speech: 2025 Asia-Pacific WEPs Forum - Business.Innovation.Impact.

Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a pleasure to welcome you back as we begin Day Two of the 2025 Asia-Pacific WEPs Forum. 

I offer my warmest greetings to all participants joining us from more than 15 countries across this dynamic region. 

Your presence, representing business leaders, financial institutions, government ministries, civil society organizations and innovators - demonstrates a strong and growing commitment to advancing gender equality through the power of the private sector.

I am honoured to join you today on behalf of the United Nations in Malaysia. We are proud to stand with UN Women in driving this agenda across the region, including through the WEPs Corporate Action Lab under the UN Women and Australian Government Gender Action Lab. 

This initiative brings together companies willing to test new ideas, challenge old assumptions and scale practical solutions to support women’s participation, leadership and retention.

These are not minor adjustments; they are transformative models reshaping the systems of work.

Although I could not be with you for Day One, I have heard exceptional feedback. You examined the current landscape of gender equality in the private sector, explored where gaps remain, and considered how Asian leadership can shape global norms and expectations.

And you highlighted powerful examples of impact:

• Innovations in family-friendly workplace practices.
• Strengthened government–industry partnerships.
• The launch of WE RISE Together 2.0, expanding supplier diversity and markets for women entrepreneurs; and
• The establishment of the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Finance Lab, bringing financial leaders together to embed gender equality in capital markets.

These examples reveal a simple truth: each of you forms a vital part of the ecosystem of change. Through leadership, investment, policy influence and innovation, you are redefining what responsible and forward-looking business leadership must be today.

Yesterday’s discussions also reaffirmed a long-standing reality: women’s economic empowerment is both a fundamental human right and a strategic investment. 

Companies that champion gender equality are more resilient, attract and retain talent, innovate more effectively and create value across supply chains. 

Advancing gender equality is not only the right thing to do it, but also smart business and essential to sustainable development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As we begin Day Two, our focus turns toward the future. 

Today, you will explore how innovation - technological, financial, organizational and societal can accelerate gender equality at scale. How new financing models can widen opportunity. How digital and AI-driven tools can create more inclusive workplaces. And how women can fully participate in the green and digital transitions reshaping the world of work.

This discussion is timely. 

Last year, Member States adopted the UN’s Pact for the Future and its annexes—the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations. 

Together, they call for decisive collective action to accelerate the SDGs, reinvigorate multilateral cooperation and ensure that the profound technological and economic shifts underway are inclusive, equitable and sustainable.

The Pact outlines 56 concrete actions across five chapters:

1. Sustainable development and financing for development.
2. International peace and security.
3. Science, technology, innovation and digital cooperation.
4. Youth and future generations.
5. Transforming global governance.

These commitments aim to ensure that the United Nations and the broader multilateral system can deliver a better future - fulfilling long-standing obligations while responding to new challenges and opportunities.

At its core, the Pact reaffirms our determination to act in accordance with international law, beginning with the UN Charter. 

And it underscores a fundamental truth: the three pillars of the United Nations: sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights are inseparable. 

Progress in one depends on progress in all.

Importantly, the Pact places gender equality at the centre of this shared future. 

Across its pages, gender is referenced 37 times, women 56 times and girls 33 times. 

This is not coincidence. 

It reflects a clear recognition that empowering women and girls and ensuring their full, equal and meaningful participation is essential to building a more just, more peaceful and more sustainable world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This Forum embodies that message. Across the Asia-Pacific, businesses are demonstrating that they can be engines of equality; reshaping workplace cultures, redesigning value chains and directing capital toward companies and sectors that uplift women and girls.

As you proceed with today’s sessions and move toward your collective action roadmap, I encourage you to think boldly and with courage. 

Consider the commitments you can advance; strengthening recruitment and retention; expanding leadership pipelines; transforming procurement for women-owned enterprises; or embedding gender priorities in investment and financing decisions. 

Your actions can reverberate across borders and shape global progress.

Let Day Two be a moment of renewed determination, a moment to deepen partnerships, challenge outdated assumptions and turn yesterday’s insights into tomorrow’s solutions.

And as you leave this Forum later today, I hope you depart not only inspired but equipped: with practical tools, new alliances and a clear sense of how you will help build a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable future for all.

Thank you, and I wish you a productive and energizing second day of the Forum.