JAMAICAN businesswoman Audrey Hinchcliffe has been invited by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to join the US Department of State’s new International Council on Women’s Business Leadership (ICWBL) for a two-year term.

The council will hold its inaugural meeting in November.

The main objective of the ICWBL will be to “advise the US Department of State in the formulation of US policy, positions, proposals, and strategies for multilateral and bilateral negotiations, business outreach, and commercial diplomacy, particularly pertaining to the economic empowerment of women for global economic prosperity,” Clinton said in a letter to Hinchcliffe in August.

Hinchcliffe is the principal of Caribbean Health Management Consultants Limited and chief executive officer of Manpower and Maintenance Services Limited. She was also an Observer Business Leader nominee for the year 2001.

In accepting the invitation, Hinchcliffe said she welcomed the opportunity to serve on this international council.

“I see it not only as a chance to contribute to the development process; but, also, as a vote of confidence for Jamaican women. I trust that this team will break new ground and, hopefully, make meaningful change in advancing the cause of women as well as seek solutions to some of the global challenges faced by women,” she said.

See full story in tomorrow's Observer.