The Export Development Council (EDC) together with Department of Trade and Industry 8 (DTI 8) conducted a Stakeholder’s Engagement Session on the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2018-2022.
On September 5, 2018 at the Hotel Alejandro, Deputy Executive Director Emma Mijares of the Export Development Council (EDC) presented the PEDP to the group of direct and indirect micro, small and medium enterprise exporters, representatives of government agencies, freight forwarding enterprises, academe representatives, and members of the press.
These 63 participants were oriented about the current situation of the Philippine Export and how the PEDP was crafted to suit the needs of the export environment.
PEDP is anchored on the commitments of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP). Instead of the usual 3-year rolling plan under the Export Development Act (RA 7844), the PEDP extends until the end period of the PDP.
The Plan focuses on three main strategies : (1) Improve the Overall Climate for Export Development; (2) Exploit Existing and Prospective Opportunities from Trade Agreements; and (3) Design Comprehensive Packages of Support for selected Products and Services Sectors. These are necessary to achieve the country’s targeted US$ 122-130.8 Billion exports of goods and services by 2022.
For 2017, topping the market were the country’s key export sectors from electronics, processed food and beverages, and IT-BPM and Tourism. In Region 8, copper metal, gold, and chemicals accounted 79.9 percentage share in export products.
In the 2018-2022 plan, DTI envisions to build champions from the processed food and wearables and homestyles sector.
A workshop was conducted to discuss programs that can help realize the strategies. Among the proposed programs that surfaced was the streamlining of export processing procedures.
Aside from the proposals, an MSME brought up a common barrier to export. “Minsan hindi po kami makapag-padala kahit may order kasi mas mahal pa ang pagpapadala kesa sa halaga ng produktong ishi-ship namin,” says Ma. Delza Mariscotes of Delza’s Native Products.
The issue has been resolved by a discussion of government-private sector partnership, e.g. link between DTI and Air21, to support logistical concerns of MSMEs.
The removal of unnecessary regulatory impediments, enhancement of export sectors’ innovative capacity, and improvement on access to trade finance will be reinforced by the PEDP along with suitable macroeconomic policies to support productivity and competitiveness of MSMEs in the export market.♦