Go green, exporters to EU urged

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that export to the European Union (EU) to adopt sustainable practices in their production to become competitive given the bloc’s goal to be climate-neutral by 2025.

During the first EU-Philippines Conference on green transition and trade held earlier this week, the department stressed the need for SMEs that export their products to the EU to go green.

The EU has a new agenda for sustainable growth called the Green Deal to overcome the challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation.

Through the Green Deal, the EU wants to transform to a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, economic growth is decoupled from resource use, and no person and place are left behind.

During the event, an introduction was provided on the circular economy, deforestation-free products and carbon adjustment.

The opportunities and challenges that Philippine exporters would face given the Green Deal were also discussed.

“Having this Green Deal session is an opportunity for the Philippine MSMEs to be informed of the importance of sustainable production in enabling them to access more diverse and high-value markets, especially the EU,” Trade Assistant Secretary Glenn Peñaranda said.

“Conferences like the one today are essential to inform exporters in our partner countries about what the Green Deal is and how it can affect the requirements of their EU business partners have towards them,” Philipp Dupuis, minister counselor and head of the economic and trade section of the EU delegation to the Philippines said.

International Trade Center (ITC) director Rajesh Aggarwal said the event would enable Philippine SMEs to become export competitive and make their mark in international trade.

The event was held as part of the ARISE Plus Philippines project, funded by the EU and supported by the ITC to help Philippine exporters take advantage of EU market access and of the trade privileges under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+).

The Philippines is a beneficiary of the EU GSP+, which enables the country to export 6,274 products to the bloc at zero tariff.

Through ARISE, the aim is to increase the awareness on new trade opportunities and help local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) upgrade their production processes to meet international quality standards.

The project also seeks to help promote overall EU-Philippines trade relationship and improve trade performance.

As part of the efforts to mainstream and support women entrepreneurs, the event also institutionalized the ITC-DTI SheTrades Hub, which aims to connect women entrepreneurs to international markets.

“With the institutionalization of the SheTrades Philippines Hub, the DTI-Export Marketing Bureau will work with ITC to further strengthen our country’s efforts in promoting women’s economic empowerment and lower or eliminate the barriers faced by women entrepreneurs, at home and internationally, to foster a more inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” Peñaranda said.