RP eyes Europe for IT sector

The Philippine government is eyeing Europe as the newest market for the country’s information technology (IT) sector.

Trade officials said that in addition to the United States and Japan, one emerging niche market for the country’s IT capabilities is Europe.

Government is gearing up its trade and investment promotion efforts, particularly in the IT sector which has been identified as one of the priority investment areas where the country has a competitive advantage.

A roundtable discussion on IT opportunities held in July last year has resulted in the identification of opportunities in IT and IT- enabled services between the Philippines and Europe.

In line with this, an IT trade and investment mission headed by Trade and Industry Undersecretary Vince S. Perez Jr. is leaving for Europe to promote the Philippines’ IT experience and capabilities in e-services, IT-enabled services, mobile application, and software development.

The mission, which will cover the cities of Stockholm, Helsinki, Rotterdam, London, Berlin, Munich and Zurich, will also explore and forge strategic alliances or joint ventures between Philippine companies and their counterparts in Europe and gain more knowledge on the present state and future trends in IT and related services.

It will also push forward the implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the Philippines’ Board of Investments and the Swiss Organization Facilitating Investments (SOFI) which identifies IT as a priority sector.

The delegation will include participants from the private sector engaged in business process outsourcing (BPO), customer relationship management, application software, IT infrastructure and IT parks. A presentation on the Philippines IT capabilities will be made in each city which will not only showcase the country’s strengths and advantages in the field of IT, but also its competitiveness as an investment location.

Further, pre-arranged one-on-one business meetings are expected to result in possible joint venture projects or business cooperations.