7 March 2017
Dr Vanessa Guthrie, Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia, is visiting Japan as a keynote speaker at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo’s Women in Resources and Energy forum celebrating International Women’s Day 2017.
Dr Guthrie will appear at the forum along with Ms Vicky Binns, Vice-President, BHP Billiton, Mr Koji Kakigi, President and CEO, JFE Steel and Ms Nobuko Mizumoto, Executive Officer, IHI. In Tokyo, Dr Guthrie will also meet senior energy and government representatives and visit the high efficiency, low emissions Isogo coal-fired power plant.
Dr Guthrie was elected as the first female Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia in June 2016 and was until recently Chief Executive of the Western Australia-based uranium miner, Toro Energy. She is an active member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chief Executive Women and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Dr Guthrie’s visit supports Australia’s 2017 International Women’s Day focus on women’s economic empowerment through aid, trade and economic diplomacy. Australian Foreign Minister the Hon Julie Bishop MP has made gender equality and women’s empowerment a focus of Australia’s foreign policy, economic diplomacy and development efforts. Australia’s pursuit of gender equality and women’s empowerment is a key pillar of its campaign for a seat at the United Nation’s Human Rights Council for the term 2018-2020.
Ambassador-Designate H.E. Richard Court AC welcomed Dr Guthrie to Tokyo, saying: “Exchanges like this help to share lessons and experience as Australia and Japan both work to improve the representation of women in the resource sector. We’re not there yet, but there are many pioneering Australian women leading the charge to make sure all people – women and men – can reach their potential in every sector.”
Australia is Japan’s largest supplier of energy overall, and largest supplier of coal (65 per cent of Japan’s imports), liquefied natural gas (27 per cent), and iron ore (61 per cent). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 13.7 per cent of Australian mining workers are female.
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