Mindanao and Cebu exporters provided inputs to the next Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2018-2022
The exporters underscored the need to increase government budget to finance exporters’ participation in international trade fairs and have bigger and more presentable Philippine booths to be at par with exporters of other ASEAN countries.
They also requested to intensify government information dissemination programs to communicate new and repealed regulations to prevent confusion among government officials and exporters regarding export clearances.
They also need information on potential local suppliers. DTI encouraged exporters to always visit the DTI website (http://www.tradelinephilippines.dti.gov.ph/), specifically Tradeline Philippines which contains trade data and a facility to match would-be and existing exporters with potential foreign buyers and local suppliers.
Other recommendations include Filipino product branding, lowering of logistics and power costs, addressing the issue on the overlapping of regulations and automating government transactions.
These inputs were gathered during the recent Focus Group Discussions (FGD) for the PEDP 2018-2022 in Cebu and Davao attended by various sectors from handicraft, shell, agrimarine products, food, banana, cacao, furniture, lifestyle products and activated carbon. The next FGD will be conducted with the services sector specifically IT-BPM, audiovisual, animation, franchising and retailing and tourism and travel-related services. –Asnia R. Bayao