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　Hosted by the organising Committee of the GFAC (Groupement des Femmes d’Affaires du Cameroun) in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce, under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Cameroon His Excellency Mr. Paul Biya, the 57 th FCEM World Congress was held under the theme: "World Women entrepreneurs faced with the International financial crisis".

The FCEM World President dealt with all the programmatic agenda items and follow-up activities of the 2008 FCEM World Congress in Brussels, Belgium and the 2009 FCEM World Committee in St. Petersburg, Russia. During the reporting period Spanish became an official working language of the FCEM.

It is important to also mention that at the 57 th FCEM World Congress in Yaounde, the network of FCEM Members and Candidates expanded with requests for membership from the countries of: Austria, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uruguay, etc…

With a view to facing the present challenges, the FCEM steering committee and the regional commissioners have been reinforced with new expertise.

In addition, to ensure a stronger coverage of region specific needs of the FCEM Worldwide Association it has been decided to consolidate regional action through creating FCEM regional Association Groups for Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas.

The objectives of this congress have been:

° To reinforce the relationships between the FCEM Women Entrepreneurs and Governments, public and private institutions, financial and investment organisations including bilateral and multilateral donors, international governmental and non-governmental organisations.

° To stimulate cooperation among all countries, including technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC) and economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC)

° To emphasize programs related to integration processes’ issues, and creating synergies in project development by focusing on the complementarities between national, sub-regional, regional and international development.

° To favour training and the use of new and green technologies, innovation and diversification in order to maximise the foundation for new sustainable growth.

° To encourage women to contribute through their activities to renew the socio-economic world based on ethics, ecology, including climate change, transparency, equal opportunities, good practices and better governance; with a more specific view to contributing through their activities to renew the global economy

It was unanimously decided to reinforce concrete action in favour of countries with emergency needs. This will be done, i.a. with the creation of a pool of experts for the FCEM.

The congress program included, in addition to statutory FCEM meetings, a rich program of conferences and workshops: the PanAfrican Conference organized with the African Development Bank, the Partnership in Progress, Projects and Partners and ICT and e-business workshops. All presentations from development partners highlighted their activities at the global and regional levels. It is very important to note and commend their efforts in developing and allocating significant funds to projects and programmes in support of women entrepreneurs. Among those present were ADB/IFC, FFA, PROINVEST (EU), UNIFEM, UNIDO, ITC and CEEAC.

The questions raised by the participants following the presentation of specific projects showed that there was still a huge problem for accessing to credit and finance in order to start-up, sustain and expand existing businesses.

With regard to the current economic crisis and its impact on business partnership it became clear from all the presentations that new efforts and new pledges of funds are needed to address the increasing demand for micro, meso and macro business related programmes and projects.

In this context it was very much appreciated that a new partnership contract between FCEM and CHANAS ASSURANCE s.a., Cameroon was signed.

The World Congress took note of the message sent by the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban-Ki Moon, to the FCEM World President, which recognized the high level work done by FCEM. With a view to shaping a dynamic partnership with the United Nations and its specialised agencies and organisations, the FCEM World President will lead a multi-disciplinary mission to visit the Secretary General of the UN during the upcoming months.

Lastly, it emerged from this very Congress that in spite of the present crisis, women have again shown resilience and determination to keep their businesses and families going. It is, however, crucial that FCEM with their development partners come up with an investment fund in support of women businesses.

In conclusion, FCEM and its members have brought a human face to the actual socio-economic crisis.