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Bohol hosts ASEAN meetings starting today
Bohol is etching history in global policy-making when it hosts starting today a series of major meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that will expand the country’s market access to half of the world’s population. The Inter-Sessional ASEAN Caucus Meeting of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) will run at the Hennan Resort on the prime resort island of Panglao until Friday. The lead negotiators convene to finalize the ASEAN position on outstanding issues and develop a pathway toward the conclusion of negotiations by year-end. The delegates are led by the ministers and senior officials from the 10 ASEAN members, which are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the host country, the Philippines. This year’s chairmanship of the ASEAN has been entrusted to the Philippines under Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and the Philippine agency sponsoring the Bohol meetings is the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Not just among the ASEAN members, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations also involve Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea and New Zealand. The 16-party negotiations during the Bohol ASEAN meetings, which have some 200 delegates, are targeted to be concluded within the year. Once completed, it will be the Philippines’ biggest FTA, linking the country and bringing the Philippine businesses improved market access to half of the world’s population. The lead negotiators at the ASEAN meetings in Bohol consist of ASEAN Secretariat Director Julia Tijaja; First Secretary Yusdiman Saman, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Brunei Darussalam; Deputy Director General of International Trade Tan Yuvaroath, Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia; Director Donna... read moreP3 guidelines set; DTI to introduce national conduits
As funds for the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) expected to be released anytime soon, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its micro-financing arm Small Business Corporation (SB Corp) have ironed out the guidelines of its implementation that will help micro entrepreneurs throughout the country. Being the administration’s program to provide an affordable micro-financing for the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the P3 funding program provides micro enterprises an alternative source of financing that is easy to access and made available at a reasonable cost. “We’re very much excited because this is our vision in the agency—to help underprivileged by giving better chances to elevate from poverty. Through this micro-financing program, those from the bottom of the pyramid will get to climb the ladder by expanding their businesses,” DTI – Regional Operations Group (DTI-ROG) Supervising Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said. DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez is set to introduce the national conduits and local Micro-financing Institutions (MFIs) for the P3 program. The Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) is a P1 billion financing program intended to give MSMEs better access to finance and to reduce their cost of borrowing. The fund will also give priority to the country’s 30 poorest provinces. Following President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to replace the “5-6” money lending system, the P3 is also seen to help stabilize supply and cost of commodities in public markets, encourage small entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, and offer employment and generate income for Filipinos. The P1 billion fund of the P3 program from the Office of the... read more