By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has presented the agency’s Development Cooperation Framework (DCF) 2011-2016 to multilateral and bilateral aid partners for areas of collaboration, project development, and resource generation.

Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo presented the initiatives to foreign aid donors 70 identified programs and projects of the department.

“We are committed to contribute to the overarching goal of inclusive growth and poverty reduction of the Aquino Administration,” said Domingo.

DTI seeks financial assistance to five areas of cooperation, namely: industry and sector plans, policy review and studies, promotions, marketing and advocacy, systems and infrastructure development, capacity and capability building, and financing schemes.

To ensure implementation of the DCF aligning with the vision of DTI and the commitment and requirements of the donor agencies and other stakeholders, the identified programs and projects will undergo the project cycle from development, implementation to monitoring and evaluation.

Consistent with the policies and assistance frameworks of the donor agencies, the framework document supports the objectives and strategies explained in the Chapter on Competitiveness of Industry and Services (I&S) Sector in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016 and in the DTI Roadmap, the organizational directions and priorities.

Under the PDP, the Industry and Services sector aims to have an improved business environment, increased productivity and efficiency and enhanced consumer welfare with the overall vision of being globally competitive and innovative contributing to inclusive growth and employment generation.

The framework also serves as a tool for DTI and the donor agencies on development efforts that would require funding outside of budgetary support from the government.

“DTI receives an average annual budget of P2.5 billion finance activities enabling businesses to grow and empowering more consumers but that is not enough to what DTI can still do to meet our objectives,” added Domingo.

Based on the Executive Order 133, the DTI is mandated to expand Philippine exports, develop industries and increase investments, develop and promote the country’s MSMEs, and ensure consumer’s welfare and protection. This is further carried out as Major Final Outputs (MFOs) as the backbone of the framework.

Consequently, upon implementation these organizational outcomes with development partners, public and private sectors, civil society, cross-cutting principle and strategies of good governance, gender equality, corporate social responsibility, climate change, migration, science, ICT, communication of results, results-based management, participatory planning, and human rights approach will be addressed as its link to other areas of cooperation in the framework.

As a developing country, the Philippines receives various aid programs from international financial institutions, foreign embassies and development aid partners through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) either by cooperation, grants, loans and others. Their support to the government promotes economic growth and social development.

Thus, the initiatives for collaboration with development partners, particularly with foreign donor agencies, will focus on key programs and projects of DTI that will complement with the thematic priorities in the Country Assistance Strategies/Operational Plans of bilateral and multilateral partners.

From 2004 to 2010, the DTI was able to implement more than 20 programs and projects with the support of various donor agencies like International Finance Cooperation (IFC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Most of the aid programs that contributed to the major final outputs of DTI were geared towards developing industries and increasing investments, and then strengthening MSMEs followed by expanding exports and ensuring welfare of the consumers.

“We commend DTI for organizing this kind of donor’s meeting for the first time,” said Hans Shrader, IFC’s program manager. As the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, IFC works closely with DTI on the elimination of red tape and administrative barriers impacting businesses and especially SMEs.

“DTI is progressing with this initiative and should provide leadership to other agencies in this aspect,” said Shrader.

With GIZ, DTI implemented programs for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on territorial development, value chain system, and market system development to generate more jobs, uplift the rural economy, and increase investments for the countryside.

“The DCF was clear in focusing the SMEs but must be linked to consumer protection and other areas like export promotion,” said Volker Steigerwald, programme manager for GIZ. He challenged the DTI to set more priorities and more focused strategies to even consider moving towards the future on renewable energy.