Highlighting the need for various agencies to support local MSMEs, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Assistant Secretary Rafaelita Aldaba said that “with the AEC and our strengthened positioning in Europe, both public and private sectors working together will enable our MSMEs to participate in the global value chain, generate quality jobs, and ensure growth particularly in the regions.”
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) aims to transform the ASEAN region into a single market and production base, with free flow of goods, services, investments, and capital. The ASEAN market is a combined market of 600 million.
To date, 98.6% of goods are traded among ASEAN member countries at zero tariff. The Philippines also currently benefits from the EU-GSP+ which grants duty-free access to more than 6,000 products exported to EU.
We are making good progress in collectively addressing the opportunities AEC presents as well as the challenges industry faces to fully comply with AEC targets. Initiatives are also in place to prepare our industries to take advantage of the EU GSP+,” Aldaba added.
To support local industries, DTI has facilitated collaborations between private and public sectors to craft and implement sectoral industry roadmaps.
To date, there are thirty five (35) industry roadmaps submitted to the BOI which include aerospace, automotive and automotive parts, manufacturing, metal casting, among other. An industry roadmap defines the vision, goals, and targets of the sector, identifies binding constraints to its growth, and recommends strategies for industry upgrading and development.
DTI has conducted industry roadmap localization conferences in key cities in the country including Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Tagaytay, and Palawan.
For information on the services of the DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph
