By Patricia Blacer
The Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Market-ing Bureau (DTI-EMB), in
partnership with DTI-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), pre-sented its programs and services to the participants of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc.-CAR (Philexport-CAR) Strategic Planning Workshop on May 4 and 5 at H100 Ecolodge, Church of Resur-rection, Baguio City.
Over 30 participants, com-posed of exporters, Philexport and DTI-CAR officers, as well as representatives from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region attended the two-day activity, which aimed to revisit the organization’s vision, mission and objectives.
DTI-Benguet Provincial Director Freda Gawisan welcomed the stakeholders and called on their participation in working toward increasing CAR’s contribution to Philippine exports.
Export Development Council Deputy Executive Director Emma Mijares elaborated on the Philippine Export Development Plan and the role of EDC in the formulation and implementation of policy re-forms and promotion strategies for exports.
EMB-Market Innovation Division Chief Lala Castro discussed an overview of the Asean Economic Integration and “Doing Business in Free Trade Areas” to familiarize the participants on the benefits of free-trade agreements and the Generalized Scheme of Preferences.
Patricia Blacer of EMB-Export Assistance and Business Matching Division tackled EMB’s services and the Philippine export procedures. The participants were also invited to enroll in the Regional Interactive Platform for Philippine Exporters Plus, a program of EMB which extends strategic interventions in enhancing the export capacity of local companies.
Trade- Industry Development Specialist Lyka Manaloto explained how this program enables various DTI offices handhold potential and existing exporters through capacity-building trainings and market exposure opportunities.
EMB also presented Tradeline Philippines, an interactive business intelligence platform that provides stakeholders with an integrated export information system on trade statistics, market and product information, as well as supplier and buyer database, among others.
Vic Soriano, chief of EMB’s Knowledge Processing Division, made a live demonstration of how to use the web site.
To conclude the session, Phil-export Vice President for Promotion Leni Abella presented the National Philexport Plan, highlighting the importance of improving partnerships with export-related government institutions and private trade organizations. Abella also emphasized the importance of the activity in realizing the organization’s mission in creating a more robust export community for Cordillera. •