SRE and Huawei Mexico sign agreement to promote digital inclusion

This is an automated translation of the original release published in Spanish. 

By Huawei Mexico

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and Huawei México signed a strategic agreement to strengthen the technological capabilities of female entrepreneurs and promote access of women from indigenous communities to the digital economy.

The agreement seeks to optimize operational and digital capabilities through initiatives that promote access to seed capital, training in information technologies, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digitalization. Likewise, it contemplates international trade promotion to increase the participation of women entrepreneurs in trade missions, fairs and exhibitions.

During the signing of the agreement, Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena Ibarra highlighted the Feminist Foreign Policy that Mexico implements and stressed that the agreement “will provide financial and technical assistance to women entrepreneurs so that they can be successful in the digital economy.”

“Encouraging women's participation and empowering them is extremely important as we are in a world of digital advancement... this program will be extraordinary for women in terms of sharing experiences and being more capable of developing their own small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.

Digital platforms can catalyze the economic and digital inclusion of women, which is why public-private partnerships have become essential. In this sense, the agreement seeks to digitize and empower women entrepreneurs through innovative platforms that contribute to democratizing digital rights.

“It benefits women who participate in micro, small and medium-sized businesses… because we still have a huge gap between MSMEs headed by women and men. There is a gap of around 1.7 trillion dollars,” the chancellor emphasized, while thanking Huawei “for helping us close the digital gender gap and confront the multiple discriminations that we are still suffering.”

The agreement also prioritizes the inclusion of women from indigenous peoples through specific programs in indigenous languages, designed to train them in the use of information technologies and facilitate their integration into the digital economy, to reduce the existing gap. Huawei will provide technological devices and access to digital platforms for women entrepreneurs in rural and indigenous communities.

The agreement represents a significant step in providing technical and financial assistance to women entrepreneurs, promoting their economic independence and contributing to inclusive development at the national and regional level.

“I firmly believe that women should have a big boost in terms of economic autonomy, it is something we urgently need… with these technologies, women can be increasingly included in society and modernity. Many of the things that women are doing are part of belonging to a labor network and empowering them,” remarked the head of the SRE.

For his part, the vice president of Huawei Latin America, Xue Feng, said: “We are committed to digital inclusion and the empowerment of women. Together with the SRE, we will strengthen the capabilities of Mexican businesswomen and help them access international markets."

The SRE and Huawei agree that the empowerment of women through education and technology is essential for economic and social development. The company has implemented various global initiatives to reduce the gender gap and encourage female participation in technology and business.

This collaboration adds to the public-private alliances established by the Foreign Ministry, focused on closing inequality gaps. The initiatives include the economic empowerment of women through financial inclusion, the construction of support networks, access to information and strengthening capacities for international economic activities, as well as the provision of seed capital for productive initiatives led by women.

Also participating in the event, on behalf of the SRE, were the general director of Global Economic Impulse, Rodrigo Morales Castillo; and the general director for Asia-Pacific, Fernando González Saiffe. On behalf of Huawei, the vice president of Public Relations for Latin America, César Funes; the general director of Huawei Mexico, Liu Jiude; and Business Director, Eric Liu. The Chinese ambassador to Mexico, Zhang Run, was also present.

The Government of Mexico, through the SRE, reaffirms its commitment to promoting inclusive economic development.