Central Visayas industry roadmap nears completion

CEBU, Philippines - Central Visayas has specified seven priority sectors in the industry roadmap to be submitted to the national government.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) regional director Asteria C. Caberte said the region is now on the final stages of completing the industry road mapping for each industry after a series of meetings with the technical working groups.

The seven sectors identified in the roadmap include the information and communications technology, human resources, agriculture, tourism, retail, furniture, and creative sectors.

Part of the Asean Economic Community’s game plan is to formulate industry roadmaps to be led by the private sector and with the assistance of government agencies.

Central Visayas is one of the regions that went ahead in the formulation of roadmap, said Caberte.

In her recent visit to Cebu, DTI assistant secretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba reported that 30 sectors have already completed national roadmaps and submitted these to the Board of Investments.     

Of the 30 sectors 22 are still in the process of undergoing rapid industry assessment and on the final stages of completion which include, coco coir, creative, jewelry, bamboo industries.

These roadmaps form the building blocks of the Manufacturing Industry Roadmap, which serves as the blueprint for the Manufacturing Resurgence Program, as well as the Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy.

According to Aldaba, some of the road maps were crafted and funded solely by the private sector while others were drawn up with the assistance of the government and foreign funds.

One of the sectors that are actively participating in the process and funded their roadmapping is the furniture sector. Other sectors, such as the auto parts and IC design sectors, are getting assistance from the EU-Philippines Trade Related Technical Assistance Project.

The AEC aims to establish a single market and production base with free movement of goods, services and investments across the 10 ASEAN member countries by end-2015.

Tariffs on 99.6 percent of products traded within the region have already been eliminated.

The Philippines, for its part, has 439 policy commitments such as the adoption of open skies, trade facilitation and passage of a competition law, among others.

At present, the government is adopting the "bottom-up" approach in policy reforms, which means that changes in the policies should come from the stakeholders in the different industries, thus involving the private sector through the crafting their own industry road maps is deemed very important. (FREEMAN)