I called a special Board meeting of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) this morning to emphasize the importance of the tax and incentives reform that we are pushing for, which has the mandate from our President and was approved by the Cabinet. We had to explain fully that there are ongoing refinements in certain continue reading : Press Statement of DTI Secretary Ramon Lopen on the PEZA Board Meeting on 09 October 2019

SPEED UP. SCALE UP.PHILIPPINES NOW TOP 100 COMPETITIVE COUNTRIES Statement by Secretary Ramon M. LopezDepartment of Trade and Industry  Delivered during the Press Briefing on the World Bank Doing Business 2020 Report held October 24,2019| Meeting room 1, Delegation Bldg., PICC, Pasay City I have good news for you today. The World Bank has just continue reading : Statement of DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez during the Press Briefing on the World Bank Doing Business 2020 Report

We basically want a clear and focused messaging of the Philippines’ value proposition to investors—the country as an investment destination especially during this administration, given the meaningful reforms and solid macro fundamentals with respect to specific sectors. To achieve this, our 19 Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) are working on a Unified Country Branding, instead of continue reading : Statement of Secretary Ramon Lopez on Unified Country Branding

Busan, Republic of Korea25 November 2019 The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry of the Republic of the Philippines, Mr. Ramon M. Lopez, and the Minister for Trade of the Republic of Korea, Ms. Yoo Myung-hee, having noted the progress of the Philippines-Korea Free Trade Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “PH-KR FTA”) continue reading : Joint Statement by the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Korea on the Early Achievement Package of the Negotiations of the Philippines-Korea Free Trade Agreement

We just learned today the announcement from Honda. We were told that they had to optimize the allocation and distribution of their resources in the region, which led them to decide to close the assembly of Honda City and BR-V models in Sta Rosa Laguna. In other words, they may be facing challenges in keeping continue reading : Press Statement of Secretary Ramon M. Lopez on the closure of the Honda car production facility in PH

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is committed to ensure safe and disaster-resilient communities while enhancing the country’s readiness against earthquakes. In fulfilment of the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2019-01, DTI is closely working with the Departments of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in a whole-of-government approach to continue reading : Press Statement of Secretary Ramon Lopez on the Disaster Resiliency Press Conference

PRESS STATEMENT OF SECRETARY RAMON M. LOPEZ   We may have a solution to make cheaper rice and sugar available in the market.  The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) proposes a price setting approach where we will allow retailers or importers to import rice and sugar if they commit to sell it at Php38 continue reading : Press Statement of Secretary Ramon M. Lopez on the Price Setting Approach for Cheaper Rice and Sugar

PRESS STATEMENT OF SECRETARY RAMON M. LOPEZON THE 25th ASEAN ECONOMIC MINISTERS MEETING RETREATAPRIL 22-23, PHUKET THAILAND ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) made headway in six priority issues during the 25th AEM Meeting Retreat on 22 to 23 April in Thailand. In the meeting, we tackled the following issues: (1) ASEAN Priority Economic Deliverables in 2019;(2) continue reading : Press Statement of Secretary Ramon M. Lopez on the 25th ASEAN Economic Ministers Retreat

PRESS STATEMENT OF DTI SECRETARY RAMON LOPEZ ON CHINESE-ONLY ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINESMay 7, 2019 Senator Panfilo Lacson is correct in calling out Chinese-only establishments that bar Filipinos from entering. Serving only Chinese clients or any specific nationality in a store is a form of discrimination and is not allowed. There should be language options continue reading : Press Statement of Secretary Ramon M. Lopez on Chinese-Only Establishments in the Philippines

PRESS STATEMENT OF SECRETARY RAMON M. LOPEZ ON EXPORT PERFORMANCE IN Q1 2019 Based on the latest preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), our country’s merchandise export performance in the first quarter of 2019 has declined by 3.1%. Specifically, Electronics, which comprises more than half of our merchandise exports, dipped by 1.7% to continue reading : Press Statement of Secretary Ramon M. Lopez on Export Performance in Q1 2019