GOVERNMENT agencies and various private entities join forces to implement the Philippine Export Development Plan 2018-2022. Specific programs, activities and projects (PAPs) have been drawn to materialize the strategies in the PEDP to increase exports and hit the target of $122-billion to $130- billion export revenue in 2022.
PEDP 2018-2022 is a five-year road map that embodies the country’s export thrusts, strategies, programs and projects. It is aligned with the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022 and the 10-point socioeconomic agenda of the President for enhanced competitiveness and support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
PEDP 2018-2022 identifies three strategies and action plans to reach the country’s export targets. The first strategy dwells on the government’s goal of improving the overall climate for export development through removal of unnecessary regulatory impediments, enhancement of trade facilitation, improved access to trade finance and export competitiveness. The second strategy is to exploit existing and prospective opportunities from trading arrangements. It proposes to strengthen promotion efforts to existing exporters and prospective and prospective bilateral, regional, and multilateral trading agreements. Third strategy proposes the crafting of comprehensive packages to promote selected products and services for export. Key export sector highlights electronics, food and beverage, IT-BPM and tourism.
In a series of stakeholders engagements nationwide, representatives of national and regional government agencies, the local government units, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi), and other business support organizations or trade associations came up with specific action plans to implement the strategies.
The Department of Trade and Industry will intensify the overseas business-matching missions, trade fairs and commercial intelligence to promote Philippine products and service exports. The capacity to comply with market requirements of exporters, especially MSMEs will be enhanced through the various DTI programs, coupled with the Startup Ecosystem Development Program.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the DTI and various financing institutions expanding the Negosyo Center Financing Ecosystem. This program will provide a ready referral mechanism to microfinancing institutions to immediately cater to MSMEs’ needs.
The Department of Finance will soon rollout the electronic transactions with the Bureau of Customs (BOC), starting with the electronic Certificate of Origin module on Tradenet. This will be part of the eCO exchange within the Asean by end of 2018. Clearance agencies are now connecting to the electronic import and export permit processing module on Tradenet which will pave the way to the National Single Window.
In line with this, the Tariff Commission is harmonizing the tariff codes among all trade regulatory government agencies and the BOC for easy identification of products cleared for shipment.
On the enhancement of the farm-to-market road program, the DTI-Bureau of Philippine Standards will issue a national quality standard for the road freight in support to the logistics industry in December 2018.
For human resource development, the Commission on Higher Education targets to strengthen the government-industry-academe collaborations on research and innovation projects.
The Department of Science and Technology will expand its Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of MSMEs nationwide through technological innovations. The DOST will also establish more Food Innovation Centers in all regions to enhance the innovative capacities of MSMEs in food industry. This will help improve the quality of their products and develop new ones. It also aims to promote the use of the One Stop Laboratory Services for global competitiveness. OneLab is an innovative program that leverages technology to be able to harmonize testing and laboratory services from different agencies making them more accessible to the public.
The Department of Energy will commence its information sessions on effective energy management and efficiency measures to lower the energy consumption, thus lessening the cost of power as input to production.
For the private sector part, Philexport will increase its support to export promotion activities through EDC approved projects.
Overseeing the implementation of the PEDP will be done by the EDC as mandated by the Export Development Act (RA 7844) and Presidential Memorandum Circular 27 series of 2017. To do this, a monitoring and evaluation system is put in place.