diff --git a/include/wx/gtk/private.h b/include/wx/gtk/private.h
index 8fdd3f4261..4a8d3ffe4e 100644
--- a/include/wx/gtk/private.h
+++ b/include/wx/gtk/private.h
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
     #include "wx/font.h"
 
     // convert the text in given encoding to UTF-8 used by wxGTK
-    extern wxCharBuffer
+    WXDLLIMPEXP_CORE extern wxCharBuffer
     wxConvertToGTK(const wxString& s,
                    wxFontEncoding enc = wxFONTENCODING_SYSTEM);
 
diff --git a/src/gtk/utilsgtk.cpp b/src/gtk/utilsgtk.cpp
index 72757f441b..c07fc6170d 100644
--- a/src/gtk/utilsgtk.cpp
+++ b/src/gtk/utilsgtk.cpp
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ wxWindow* wxFindWindowAtPoint(const wxPoint& pt)
 
 #if !wxUSE_UNICODE
 
+WXDLLIMPEXP_CORE 
 wxCharBuffer wxConvertToGTK(const wxString& s, wxFontEncoding enc)
 {
     wxWCharBuffer wbuf;