By 2028, Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (MIMAROPA) shall be the top region of choice in tourism and the leading producer of agricultural products—as echoed by participants during the 2021 Regional Competitiveness Agenda (RCA) Consultative Workshop-MIMAROPA leg.
The Department of Trade and Industry – Competitiveness Bureau (DTI-CB) partnered with the United States Agency for International Development under the Regulatory Reform Support Program for National Development (USAID-RESPOND) to come together key high-level government officials and industry experts in a workshop positioning MIMAROPA’s competitiveness in the country.
Furthermore, the workshop aims to review and draw the MIMAROPA region’s competitiveness agenda for the next eight years. Complementing the results from the recently conducted 8th Annual Regional Competitiveness Summit via Facebook live, where several local government units in MIMAROPA were named as among the top LGUs according to the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) 2020, the same framework was used in the workshop proper to include innovation as an additional measure of competitiveness.
The Regional Competitiveness Agenda (RCA) Consultative Workshop was held on 24 and 25 March 2021 via Zoom, co-hosted by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia.
Attending the two-day virtual workshop were representatives from different national government agencies, academic institutions, private sector organizations, and civil society organizations in the region.
DTI MIMAROPA and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) presented the Regional Competitiveness Situationer Project Overview and Context Setting. The participants were grouped based on the key indicators for competitiveness—Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, Resiliency, and Innovation. Following this was the breakout session on the identification of the region’s strategic position and key result areas.
Among the identified key result areas were the development of raw products such as cashew and calamansi, and on disaster resiliency and climate change adaptability. From the identified key result areas, the participants formulated strategic contributions and deliverables. This is where the collaboration of public and private sectors plays as a significant driver of competitiveness and socio-economic progress.
“More importantly, this workshop was a way for us to highlight MIMAROPA’s strengths and challenges that we may build on to create a more sustainable and progressive economy in the region. It is important that we incorporate all these economic indicators because one or two drivers is not enough to achieve competitiveness,” emphasized by DTI MIMAROPA Regional Director Joel B. Valera. He added that the heads of the different agencies, academic institutions, and civil society organizations are committed in implementing the identified deliverables in the next years. ♦
Date of Release: 30 March 2021