National roadmap highlights 5 key industries

A comprehensive blueprint of the government’s industrial development strategy champions the development of five priority industries that are expected to generate more quality jobs and help sustain a high level and inclusive economic growth.

In a forum yesterday, Trade Assistant Secretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba said the government’s Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy (CNIS) identified these industries as manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism, infrastructure and logistics and IT-business process management, which were all expected to play a key role in realizing an economic transformation.

The CNIS, which was presented  to stakeholders in a forum yesterday, was deemed a crucial blueprint as it not only identified the growth challenges faced by local industries, but also outlined the country’s strategies, measures and programs that were aimed at achieving short-, medium- and long-term goals. It is composed of the different industry roadmaps that were crafted jointly by stakeholders and the government over the past several years.

Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said the CNIS linked the manufacturing sector with the agricultural and services sectors.

“In the process, forward and backward linkages will be strengthened, supply chain gaps will be addressed and the industries’ participation in the global and regional value chains will be deepened. CNIS will initially focus on manufacturing, infrastructure and logistics, tourism, IT-BPM, and agribusiness,” Cristobal said.

According to Cristobal, the CNIS will involve a number of key measures that included human resource development; micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprise development; innovation and research and development activities; aggressive promotion and marketing programs; infrastructure investments to address the high cost of power, logistics and shipping, and streamlining and automation of government procedures and regulations affecting business operations.

Through these strategic actions, the government hopes to create an enabling environment that will allow industries to further develop and become globally competitive to be able to seize the opportunities of an integrated regional economy, he added.

Aldaba, meanwhile, noted that some of the major constraints identified by the CNIS included regulatory challenges (complex business procedures, policy consistency, transparency, foreign equity rule); infrastructure (high cost of power, lack of ports, airports and roads); as well as weak linkages among manufacturing, agriculture and services sectors.

Specific measures will thus be needed for specific industries to close supply chain gaps; expand the domestic market and exports; SME development; and technology upgrading.

Also critical in achieving the goals set under the CNIS, according to Aldaba, is for the Philippines to have an open trade regime, sustainable macroeconomic policies, sound tax policies, efficient bureaucracy, access to finance and technology for small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as institutions that promote adaptive research and patent regime.