She says it is step forward in addressing the economic and social challenges faced by women and vulnerable groups.

The conference was held over two days at Sun City near Rustenburg in the North West Province.

Chikunga outlined three main priorities that emerged from the conference: strengthening the economy, improving financial inclusion, and combating gender-based violence and femicide.

She says a technical meeting taking place today will focus on finding practical solutions to the barriers women face in the business sector.

"We decided to dissect the priority on financial inclusion because this technical committee, technical team, which is going to sit in the coming two days, will be looking at that, with the aim of starting to draft the declaration that will be adopted by ministers at the end of year, that is in November," Chikunga adds. 

She says that the team will consider the key points raised by speakers during the conference to inform the final declaration. 

--SABC--