10 January 2006 – Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Edsel T. Custodio yesterday signed as representative  of the Philippine Coalition for Services Export Promotion a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ, the German Technical Cooperation) for GTZ’s assistance in conducting the study on the export potentials of the Philippine Health and Wellness Sector as part of the work of the Coalition to profile a number of services sectors.

Undersecretary Custodio said that the study will “evaluate the competitiveness and the export potential of the Philippine Health and Wellness Sector as an integral part of the package of services the Coalition will promote in pursuit of our national economic development.”

The Philippine Coalition for Services Export Promotion was launched last 23 May 2005 to enhance Philippine trade in services as a factor of economic development.  It comprises a partnership of concerned stakeholders from government, the private sector, and the academe, and was established through funding from the European Commission and technical assistance from the International Trade Center (ITC) in Geneva. (Please see Press Releases SFA-AGR-309-05, 20 May 2005; and SFA-AGR-625-05, 7 September 2005 for background information)

Undersecretary Custodio explained that one component of the project is the preparation of sectoral studies, which will profile selected export service industry sectors and conclude with a sectoral “Road Map to Competitiveness,” including the Health and Wellness sector.

The GTZ, represented by its Project Coordinator Ms. Anja Gomm, entered into the MOA with the Coalition as it has selected the Health sector as one priority industry for trade policy and trade promotion, and the GTZ and the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations (DFA/OUIER) recognize that the similarity in priority sectors allows for joint activities that can maximize individual contributions to attain the objectives of each project, which are services development and export promotion, Undersecretary Custodio added.

The GTZ will shoulder the cost of undertaking consultations with relevant stakeholders in the provinces and within the Greater Manila area.

Undersecretary Custodio said that these research studies – a major activity of the Coalition – will profile a number of services sectors in terms of market performance and their ability to effectively respond to both market opportunities and threats with the objective of bench-marking competitive export performance.  The studies will also be used to identify pertinent domestic and international regulations covering each sector and how these rules impact upon market access and robust export trade.  END