KARACHI   -   Pakistan has been recognised with a prestigious award “International Prize on Gender Equity in Trade in 2024” by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Its state-owned agency, Pakistan Single Window (PSW) brought this global recognition to the country for its Khadija Program designed to promote women entrepreneurship. The prize has recently been introduced by the WTO and is given to governments for implementing result-oriented and impactful initiatives for Gender Equality in Trade. The PSW “Khadijah” Program has been recognized for its innovative approach towards encouraging more women entrepreneurs to join international trade and is a significant acknowledgment of the government of Pakistan’s efforts towards promoting fair, and equitable trade through a combination of inclusive policies and practical measures with a special emphasis on gender equality in the cross-border trade sector. PSW’s submission for the prize stood out from amongst other entries and earned PSW the honor of the prize under the category of ‘Female Entrepreneurs’, according to its CEO Aftab Haider. PSW has launched ‘Khadijah – The Women Entrepreneurship Program’ to enhance women’s economic empowerment and promote gender equality. The program aims to establish a reliable and sustainable mechanism for training and enhancing the capabilities of women, enabling them to engage in cross-border trade actively. This program serves the purpose of transferring knowledge and information to women entrepreneurs and equipping them with requisite know-how, skills, and expertise, which enables them to upscale their existing businesses for an export market and sustain and grow them over time.

Also, it covers training on the whole business and trading cycle, including technical and financial inclusion, technical capacity building, information about trade-related regulatory bodies, and social media marketing initiatives for uplifting women-led businesses.