Export dev’t plan to boost local firms ahead of integration

The Export Development Council said the proposed 2014-2016 Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) will enable local enterprises to maximize their participation in the global value chain within the next three years.

The goal is being pushed as the Philippines will soon become part of an integrated regional economy—the Asean Economic Community (AEC)—by end-2015.

“As a main trade policy document, the PEDP underscores strategies consistent with the AEC (Asean Economic Community), an important one of which is the unified international trade strategy framework, with industry competitiveness as its foundation. The goal is to capacitate the export sector so that it can maximize its participation in the global value chain,” Trade Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. said in a statement.

“With the upcoming Asean integration in 2015, Philippine products will need to be more competitive and accessible. The export industry must participate in high-value activities and become more diversified and sophisticated,” Manalo explained.

According to Manalo, the proposed 2014-2016 PEDP, which targets export receipts to reach $100 billion by end 2016, will transform the Philippines into an exporting nation that will fuel growth of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), creating more jobs and competitive products that the Philippines can offer.

The PEDP 2014-2016 is the export-sector component of the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, the government’s primary economic and social development program. It outlines the export targets and product and market strategies to boost export growth within the three-year period in consideration of the problems affecting local and international markets.

Manalo added that the backdrop against which the 2014-2016 PEDP is proposed included creating comprehensive packages of export support and promotion programs for select sectors defined in the industry road maps recently developed; removing unnecessary regulatory impediments to movements of goods; upgrading the quality and standards of exports through DTI programs such as the Shared Service Facility (SSF), Regional Interactive Platform for Phil Exporters (Ripples); innovation, product development and design support through the Design Center of the Philippines (DCP), Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem) and the Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion (BDTP); improving exporters’ access to financing through the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp.) and Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency (PhilExim); and advocating for improved market access through Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), and other bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Based on the preliminary report of the Philippine Statistics Authority, merchandise exports grew 8.3 percent to $29.8 billion in the first half of the year from the $27.5 billion posted in the same period of 2013.