MANILA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Despite the progress made over the last two decades in empowering women in Asia and the Pacific, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) hosted seminar said on Thursday there remain huge gender gaps, particularly in the economic and political spheres in the region.

The message from the seminar "Breaking Barriers: Women Entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific" held on Thursday at ADB's 51st annual meeting was that supporting women's entrepreneurship is key to their economic empowerment.

"Women's entrepreneurship is important because it helps us move closer to the goal of achieving a more gender equal Asia and the Pacific," said ADB President Takehiko Nakao at the seminar, attended by policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and development practitioners.

"Under our new Strategy 2030, ADB will pay increased attention to generating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women," Nakao added.

In the theme chapter of the Asian Development Outlook Update 2015, ADB estimated that closing the existing gender gaps could generate a 30 percent increase in the per capita income of an average Asian economy in one generation or 30 years, and 70 percent in two generations.

The panelists agreed that while there is a long road ahead to full gender equality, policies supporting women's entrepreneurship can help ignite momentum for this effort, together with access to information, government services, and credit.

Nearly half of ADB lending already has strong gender design elements, according to the bank.

"ADB under Strategy 2030 will place an even stronger emphasis on women's economic empowerment. Infrastructure projects will maximize women's access to markets and opportunities for skilled jobs," ADB said.

Nakao also mentioned ADB's ongoing efforts to improving gender balance within the bank, with representation of women among international staff increasing to a record high of 35 percent in 2017, a step closer to the bank's target of 40 percent by the end of 2022.