Recognizing that the only way for the Nation to attain a Newly Industrial Country (NIC) status by the year 2000 is to promote the export industry, President Fidel V. Ramos, through Proclamtion No. 167, declared in 1993 that export development is the key to the Philippines’ balanced agri-industrial economic development.
This proclamation led to Executive Order No. 98 in 1993 which created the Export Development Council (EDC) which was then modified by Executive Order No. 110 and Executive Order No. 180. In 1994 the Export Development Act of 1994 (RA No. 7844) was approved, offering an export-oriented development for the country. This Act also institutionalized the Export Development Council