Session on doing business in free trade areas up

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Session on doing business in free trade areas up

by Venus G. Villanueva

KALIBO, Aklan , May 25 (PIA) - An information session dubbed "Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA II) Program – A Sectoral Approach for Food and Gifts, Decors and Housewares" will be held here in Aklan on May 27, 2011 at the Hernani’s Mix and Match in Kalibo.

The activity will be conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in partnership with the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Tariff Commission (TC) to encourage and train business people, academe, concerned government agencies and local government units, customs brokers, traders, distributors and freight forwarders on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

FTAs had been concluded by the Philippines with Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN, Japan, and China, which made Philippine products more competitive in these countries.

DTI-Aklan Provincial Director Diosdado P. Cadena Jr. said there will be presentations on tariff reduction and rules of origin under the six FTAs during the session.

The six FTAs the Philippines is currently implementing include Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA), ASEAN Free Trade Area, and ASEAN Regional FTAs – ASEAN-China, ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-Korea and ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTAs including ASEAN – India.

The ASEAN-India FTA is due for implementation this year, according to the DTI.

To be discussed too in the activity are market opportunities for the Food and Gifts, Decorative and Houseware Sectors in Free Trade Areas to include industrial snapshot, world demand, Philippine exports in FTA markets, shares of Philippine exports to world imports, consumer trends, lifestyle/social changes and special product focus in FTA markets for food.

Before this scheduled information session, DTI-Aklan conducted last week a 2-day Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council (MSMEDC) Action Planning Workshop to localize plans at provincial level. (JCM/VGV PIA 6 Aklan)

Cabatuan.com - Kasimanwa.com - Diosdado Cadena Jr.