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Philippines export plan a boon for investors
AN official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the government’s Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) is essential for investments.
In a recorded video interview with The Manila Times, DTI Assistant Secretary Allan Gepty said the plan, which covers 2023 to 2028, is the country’s strategic roadmap in enhancing the competitiveness of the country’s export industries. Its intention is to develop a strong and innovative ecosystem.
“We really need to attract more investments because if you really want to catch up, you have to produce and manufacture more high-value products so that your export performance when it comes to trading goods would be very competitive,” he said, citing the country’s deficit in trading goods.
“The Export Development Plan is also very important in the sense that it will give would-be investors a perspective or glimpse what would be the promising sectors they would venture into [in the Philippines],” Gepty added. “The more investments we generate, it will follow… our manufacturing and production capabilities will also improve.”
The DTI official said with regard to the Philippines’ trade performance, the services sector has a comparative advantage, citing a surplus in trade with the sector, with the business sector being top of their list.
Meanwhile, Gepty said the approval of the PEDP was done when the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) took effect.
“Very timely, because the approval of the Philippine Export Development Plan came when RCEP also took effect as far as the Philippines is concerned,” he said. “So this is a big deal and basically for purposes of enhancing not just the competitiveness of our export industries but also the utilization of various free trade agreements and preferential arrangements, including of course, the [RCEP] agreement, which is the biggest trade agreement, so far.”
However, Gepty does not see RCEP as a threat, but as an opportunity, as he is the country’s lead negotiator for the agreement.
“I am a strong advocate of RCEP… I always tell our stakeholders to look at it as a platform of past opportunities,” he said.
Trade remedies
Gepty also said there are trade remedies, which are available to their stakeholders.
Among the trade remedies discussed were safeguard measures, which are available if there is a sudden or sharp increase of importation of a product that threatens local industries.
“In that aspect, the local industry will have to be vigilant in monitoring the influx of imported products,” Gepty said. “And if they see that the influx of these important products threatens their local industry, at the very least, they can initiate the safeguard measures. With that, the government can evaluate the same and then apply the necessary and appropriate safeguard measures.”
Currently, electronics tops the list of products exported from the Philippines at 57 percent.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the PEDP on Tuesday, while the country officially ratified the RCEP agreement last February.
Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/06/11/business/top-business/ph-export-plan-a-boon-for-investors/1895494