THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will sign an agreement with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to streamline the process for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) seeking to export goods or distribute them domestically.
“We have to make business easy… and for those that want to export, we also have to (ensure they can) also export quickly,” DTI Acting Secretary Cristina Aldeguer-Roque told reporters on Wednesday.
She said that the memorandum of agreement (MoA) to be signed soon is a result of her meeting with ARTA Secretary Ernesto V. Perez on Tuesday.
“The goal is to ease doing business locally and also ease getting the papers ready so that they will be ready for exports also,” she said.
“Aside from the big industries, which we really support, we also have a push for the MSMEs, those who are really ready to conquer the global arena,” she added.
She said that there is a need to streamline processes not only for export but also in distributing products on the domestic market to help businesses tap the big potential in the Philippines.
“Our population is so big, and that is also the reason why a lot of investors want to come in. So that’s one of our strengths,” she said.
The MoA seeks to reduce the steps that businesses will have to go through before being cleared to distribute products, whether for export or not.
She said industries with great potential to export include the beauty sector, due to growing demand for whitening and coconut products.
“There’s really a strong export market for beauty products, especially papaya and virgin coconut oil, which are very popular abroad,” she said.
“There’s also halal beauty products … we are going to really push halal, which has a $3.3 trillion potential global market,” she added.
The top export markets for Philippine beauty products are the Middle East, Europe, and the US.
On Wednesday, the DTI opened its first Beauty Philippines Fair, the first of the department’s industry-specific trade fairs. Due to run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1 at SM Megamall, the fair aims to create a showcase for beauty-products MSMEs.
“We have to realize that a lot of MSMEs are also into the beauty business, especially now that the beauty business is very strong,” she said.
“So, I decided to start with very targeted trade fairs … now it’s the beauty sector; after that we also have fashion; then after that we will also have bridal,” she added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
