By Joel C. Atencio, PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian
?The Department of Trade and Industry is committed to enabling a business-friendly environment conducive to the growth of businesses and supportive of fair trade to ensure that consumers are empowered.?
Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo emphasized this during the special forum, called ?Pilipinas Natin Pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) Economic Cluster Presentation? at the National Broadcasting Network (NBN)-Channel 4 studios in Quezon City on Wednesday.
Reiterating DTI?s Slogan: ?Enabling Business, Empowering Consumers,? Domingo went on to say the DTI also ensures that the investment climate in the country remains healthy under the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.
According to Domingo, the investments registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) increased by 189 percent from P90 billion from January to May 2010 to P259.94 billion in the same period this year.
?These investment projects are expected to create 74,266 additional jobs. Total investments approved for the first year of the Aquino presidency leaped up to a high P535.19 billion during the period July 2010 to May 2011, a considerable 73 percent increase from the P309.87 billion posted in the same period last year,? Domingo explained.
Significant investments were pledged during the President?s foreign trips, he said.
The DTI chief also mentioned the US$ 2.86 billion guaranteed investments and US$ 2.60 billion prospective investments, or a total of US$ 5.46 billion, from Japan.
Also appearing at the two-hour show were other members of President Aquino?s Economic Team, namely: Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga.
They tackled the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, which the President is expected to take up in his July 25 SONA before a joint session of Congress.
Purisima, Paderanga and Domingo belong to the Cabinet Economic Development Cluster. Purisima heads the cluster.
The forum is the first of five forums on TV and radio in the run-up to President Aquino?s second SONA.
Domingo said the DTI will continue to ensure that the markets for the country?s products abroad ?are open and fair for our exports.?
Philippine exports in January-April 2011 amounted to US$ 16.51 billion, an increase of 10.6 percent compared to US$ 14.93 billion for the same period in 2010
Top export products are: Electronics (US$ 2.14 billion); Coconut oil (US$ 194 million); Articles of apparel and clothing (US$ 132.81 million); Woodcraft and furniture (US$ 127 million).
The Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP), the bedrock of the country?s international trade strategy, projects exports to grow by 34 percent and services by 57 percent from 2011 to 2013.
?One of DTI?s major strategies is to maximize the preferential or free trade agreements we have with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and through ASEAN, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, and our trade agreement with Japan. We are doing this through a comprehensive and nationwide information and business education campaign on these trade agreements,? Domingo said.
DTI is also working to improve the country?s competitiveness through streamlined business name registration.
The department has implemented measures to reduce the time span of business name registration from four to eight hours to 15 minutes. The Enhanced Business Name Registration System or EBNRS simplifies the application process by reducing the required information fields from 36 to 18.
The DTI and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) also embarked on a program for the streamlining of business permits and licensing systems (BPLS) in the country.
Of the 480 priority LGUs targeted from 2010 to 2014 nationwide, some 120 LGUs in various regions are already implementing BPLS reforms.
Domingo said DTI likewise ensures that consumers are protected of their rights through its improved mechanism for redress.
From the second half of 2010 until the first quarter of 2011, at least 91,828 consumer complaints were received by the DTI consumer welfare desks, of which 98.7 percent were resolved.
DTI, through its regional and provincial offices nationwide, is collaborating with all city and municipal mayors to help mitigate the impact of price increases in basic commodities.
?As we move to the second year of administration, we at the DTI assure our investors, SMEs, exporters, and businessmen that we will continue to serve as catalytic link to provide them an environment sustainable of their growth and development, that generate jobs for our countrymen,? Domingo said.
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