The Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) attended the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2018-2022 Stakeholders’ Engagement session held last 19 September 2018 at Royce Hotel, Clark Pampanga.

Representatives from Region III government agencies, group of direct and indirect micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) exporters, freight forwarding enterprises, and academe representatives were oriented on the current situation of the Philippine Export and how the PEDP was crafted and designed to suit the needs of the export industry.

PEDP 2018-2022 is in line with the country’s long-term vision, Ambisyon 2040 whereas the end-period target for export goods and services by 2022 is to reach US$ 122 to US$ 130.8 Billion.

The aim of the event was to solicit commitments among stakeholders to align their respective programs with the PEDP’s Key Strategic Action Agenda namely:
1) Improve the overall climate for export development;
2) Exploit existing prospective opportunities from trading engagements and;
3) Design comprehensive packages of support for selected products and services sectors.

In 2017, country’s key export sectors that topped the market are from electronics, processed food and beverages, tourism, and Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM). In Region 3, components/devices machinery and transport equipment accounted 70.6 percentage share in export products.

Among the policies that will be reinforced by the PDEP to support productivity and competitiveness of MSMEs in the export market are the removal of unnecessary regulatory impediments, enhancement of export sectors’ innovative capacity, and improvement on access to trade finance.

Also discussed is the Memorandum Circular 27 indicating the list of agencies that are tasked to engage in ensuring that the strategies of PEDP are efficient, responsive, and well-coordinated.

AFAB