DTI on track to put up 800 shared services facilities

The Department of Trade and Industry is on track to put up 800 shared services facilities (SSFs), which are expected to spur the growth of micro, small, and medium scale enterprises.

In a statement Tuesday, the DTI said the provision of these common service facilities across the country was the agency’s flagship program for MSMEs.

Under this P700-million program, facilities can be shared by beneficiaries such as cooperatives, institutions and communities, to help them become more competitive in the local and foreign markets.

Dorecita T. Delima, Trade Assistant Regional Director for Region 12, said the plan was to provide SSFs to priority industry clusters between 2013 and 2016.

One of these clusters is the pangasius industry, Delima said.

Recently, the DTI and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) held a meeting with pangasius stakeholders to discuss their plan to take advantage of the department’s SSF program.

These stakeholders reportedly want to have fish processing plants as SSF for fish growers, so that processors will no longer control prices, Delima said.

Through these planned processing plants, fish growers can thus produce value added products on their own.

During that meeting, stakeholders and representatives from government agencies also assessed the accomplishments of the pangasius industry cluster from 2009 to 2012.

They likewise validated and finalized the pangasius value chain map; strategic objectives for 2013 to 2016; constraints, needs, opportunities of the industry cluster; and action plan and priority projects for the pangasius industry cluster.

In 1981, BFAR introduced to the country the pangasius, which belongs to the catfish family.

The DTI is ramping up support to the lucrative pangasius industry, which is also one of the industry clusters that will be featured in the upcoming investment conference that the agency organized in cooperation with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

“During the conference, we will have a breakout session on the pangasius (industry cluster). We will also promote this conference to have a representation per region,” Delima said.

The conference, dubbed “Investing in Priority Industry Clusters for SMEs: A Conference,” intends to promote awareness on the Philippines’ cluster-based industrial development strategy.

Through this project, the DTI intends to promote the country as a viable investment destination for investments in sectors such as aqua-marine, agri-business, information and communications technology (ICT), tourism, health and wellness, and manufacturing.

It will also be a platform to present trade and investment opportunities for other industry clusters.