22 February 2005 – Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Edsel T. Custodio today announced that the International Trade Center (ITC) in Geneva has approved for funding the establishment of a Philippine Coalition for Services Export Promotion consisting of stakeholders from government, the private sector, and the academe.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs through its Office of the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations (OUIER) will oversee the various operations and activities of the Coalition in close cooperation with three other main proponent institutions, namely, the National Economic Development Authority, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT),” Undersecretary Custodio said.

The main objective of the Coalition is to develop and enhance Philippine trade in services and to enable the country to take full advantage of the services sector as the fastest growing component of economic growth and international trade, Undersecretary Custodio elaborated.  He said that the Coalition would meet this objective by:

• increasing both public and private sector awareness of global services export opportunities along the four modes of services supply;
  
  
• facilitating public and private sector consultation and forming networks and alliances for the effective promotion of services exports;

• encouraging the crafting of market development, promotional, and institutional services export strategies;
  
  
• promoting individual and institutional capacity building activities that will enhance and strengthen stakeholder involvement both in services export promotion and market-driven services trade negotiations.

The Undersecretary added that the grant from the ITC will cover a one-year period during which the Coalition will undertake a number of activities aimed at promoting Philippine trade in services, among these being:

• In-depth services sector profiles of the Philippines’ top 12 performing services industries;

• Comprehensive pilot studies on the assistance rendered by SME Development Organizations (SMEDOs) to services providers in 5 of the country’s provinces;

• Roadmap for Services Export Competitiveness through various sector-specific workshops geared towards capacity-building, network / alliance formation, and the identification of market niches and potential trade barriers for services exporters;
  
  
• Completion of a comprehensive Philippine Services Request-Offer List, which the country will submit to the present WTO/GATS negotiations.

The International Trade Center (ITC) is the technical cooperation agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) for operational, enterprise-oriented aspects of trade development.  ITC supports developing and transition economies, particularly their business sectors, in their efforts to realize their full potential for developing exports.  ITC’s technical assistance concentrates on three issues for which it believes the need for national capacity- building is most critical: helping businesses understand WTO rules; strengthening enterprise competitiveness; and developing new trade promotion strategies.  END
 
 

/jay