I have been talking to trade ministers in various countries who all say that gender inclusivity is important to them. We need to make this importance visible to the rest of the world and catalyse action towards more inclusive trade.

The most difficult part of Brexit will be to figure out the trade regime between the U.K. and the rest of the E.U. because the level of trade integration between the members of the E.U. is the deepest in the world and integrates regulations that govern how products and services are produced and sold within the E.U.

Through e-commerce, women have found a means to jump over cultural and traditional lack of available time for remunerated activities.

It has been proven through studies by the World Bank and others that companies participating in international trade are more competitive.

Our main aim globally is to connect more women to the economy because we know there is a specific market failure there: women are having more difficulty in business than men.

It makes perfect economic sense to integrate women in the economy in the developing world in order to catch up with advanced countries, thereby minimising socioeconomic costs as well.

Empowering women with greater income opportunities will lift societies at a much faster rate.

The representatives of young professionals and woman entrepreneurs deserve seats at the big table to evolve viable, efficient, and sustainable solutions for problems the world is faced with. Without their participation, there will always be a deficit of compassion and innovation.

There are bridges that we have built not only between individual companies but also between associations. This will keep business and investments flowing.

Through the SITA initiative, we are building bridges between India and East Africa by taking Indian companies to these countries to see with their own eyes what the opportunities are.

African pressure has led the E.U. to rethink part of its agricultural subsidy programme.

I have seen African countries negotiate bilaterally and within the WTO. African countries come to the WTO prepared and defend their interests with vigour.

We survey companies and ask them what the barriers to export and import are. Once we map these barriers, we sit down with the companies on one side and the government and regulatory agencies on the other and help them identify obstacles to trade and what has to be done to tackle them.

Our key objective is to remove obstacles to trade.

The deeper your regional integration, the more value chain activity you generate, but the more you close the gap between your small and your large companies.

We often run the risk, when discussing women empowerment, to think that this is about women talking about women with other women, but this is not the point.

You only have a problem when you admit you have a problem.

Japan has huge potential in women - potential, especially in the area of the economy, that Japan is not using fully.

Responsive governments committed to improving the broader trade facilitation and business environment can help companies of all sizes by improving infrastructure: roads, transportation, ports, information and communication technology, and electricity.

Exporting firms are more productive and pay higher wages than their domestically focused counterparts, especially in places like Sub-Saharan Africa. If firms manage to thrive in world markets, they tend to increase their productivity even more.

Growth without diversification, technological improvement, and increased productivity is easily reversed: all it takes is a dip in commodity prices.

Africans don't just need more jobs: they need better jobs.

The fact is that during the post-1989 heyday of globalization optimism, political and business elites did not think enough about the prospect - plainly predicted in economic theory - that trade would harm some people even while leaving society as a whole better off. The result was overpromised benefits and inadequate adjustment plans.

The factory work that lifted millions out of poverty in places like China and Vietnam probably did cost some workers in North Carolina and Wallonia their jobs.