The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the country’s largest umbrella group of exporters, will launch on Dec. 2 a free trade agreement (FTA) portal aimed at helping local businesses take advantage of the economic deals.
The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said last week the information portal would provide a comprehensive set of resources, including copies of agreements, export guides, utilization data, rules of origin simulator, among others.
“These are intended to promote higher utilization of trade preferences by Philippine businesses,” the business group said.
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The FTA portal is one of the components of the origin management system (OMS) for the Promotion of FTAs in the Philippines Project.
The project was done in partnership with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, the first one done by the foreign agency outside of their country.
The DTI-Export Marketing Bureau serves as the implementing lead for the Philippine side, while the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. is engaged as private sector lead.
InterCommerce Network Services Inc. president and chief executive Francis Lopez, whose company developed the portal, said the OMS project can significantly reduce the processing time for the certificates of origin.
The OMS will also be powered by artificial intelligence, which will significantly reduce the processing time for product evaluation reports and certificates of origin. INQ