by Roderick Abad
17 January 2018
also published in Business Mirror
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is set to submit on January 26 the initial draft of the 2018-2020 Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) to President Duterte, expecting to get the President’s approval in the middle of the year.
With the inclusion of the comments from Economic Development Cluster (EDC) members, the amended plan will be presented by the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) to the agency’s Excom by the end of the month; EDC Excom and Council on February 9; and the EDC in the last week of February.
The final blueprint will then be tendered in March to President Duterte who is expected to affix his sign of approval in the second quarter of 2018.
Besides the road map, the DTI-EMB bared accomplishments for its projects, activities and plans, including initiatives, such as capacity building for Filipino exporters of halal products, facilitation of market-access requirements, together with the Philippine Accreditation Bureau, and marketing and promotions of local halal products and services to major halal markets through its various Outbound Business Marketing Mission (OBMM).
Through the Ripples Plus Program, in cooperation with the Regional Operations Group and the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), the EMB conducted 26 information sessions, with 522 participants covering all regions. The sessions focused on food, coconut products, natural and organic products, franchising and information and communications technology.
Also, 219 Ripples enrollees joined OBMMs to Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Canada, Indonesia, China, Switzerland, Norway, France, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United States as part of the EMB’s marketing and promotion activities.
Moreover, eight companies from Region 9 completed the Export Pathways Program Level 4, while seven others from the same region graduated to EPP Levels 5, 6 or 7.
The EMB held 42 information sessions on Doing Business in Free Trade Areas, representing a 262- percent completion rate based on the 16 sessions targeted for the whole year.
The fora were attended by 551 firms with 3,559 participants, including representatives of companies, members of academe and government officials.
Through the Philippine Export Competitiveness Program, the EMB conducted 17 trade-information sessions in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao with 1,043 participants from 509 companies.
Last year the EMB organized 32 OBMMs to Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Russian Federation, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Africa, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, China, Switzerland, Norway, France, South Korea, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US.
These activities assisted 336 exporters for 2,427 buyers and generated $108.41 million in export sales.
Meanwhile, the EMB serviced 35 Inbound Business Matching Missions/Foreign Buyer Servicing from the UAE, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, China, Hungary, Japan, Germany, Australia, Macau, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore, Belgium, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US, with total export sales of $13.62 million.
The bureau and EDC spearheaded the various activities for the National Exporters Week (NEW) in 2017, which included the National Export Congress, Showcase of Export Enablers and Stakeholders, a NEW bazaar, and Usapang Exports seminars, as well as awarding of top exporters based on PSA export data.