BOI capacitates ARMM to craft regional industry roadmaps,

COTABATO CITY — The Board of Investments (BOI), the industry development and investments promotion arm of the Department of Trade andamp Industry (DTI), together with theDTI and Regional Board of Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (RBOI ARMM), is capacitating the region’s various industry players, businesses, local government units and government agencies, and concerned stakeholders in a regional conference in crafting their localized version of national industry roadmaps to achieve further growth and competitiveness. Dubbed as Industry Roadmaps and the AEC Gameplanand Roadmaps Localization for Competitiveness, the regional conference aims to build the capacities of local industries and stakeholders including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in crafting their localized industry roadmaps aligned with the national industry roadmaps. The conference also aims to discuss the economic opportunities and potentials for local industries and sectors in ARMM and how they can take advantage of the many opportunities with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) already in place. Atty. Ishak V. Mastura, RBOI-ARMM chairperson,who delivered the opening remarks emphasized the importance of crafting customized industry roadmaps for the region considering the ever-growing and fast changing developments in the competitive business environment. In an age where there are no more borders in trade, our industries in the region should shape up and move up. Though we are independent from the rest of the regions in the country, it is important to link and align our strategies with that from the national level, Mastura said. DTI ARMM Secretary Atty. Anwar Malang meanwhile conveyed gratitude to BOI and DTI National for introducing the Industry Roadmapping Program to the region. At least our region, though independent of the national, is not neglected at all. Here in ARMM, we can craft our localized roadmaps, he said. Secretary Anwar informed the participants of the multi-sector conference of ARMM’s Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Program (AICCEP), a partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which aims to capacitate the industry stakeholders of the region on clustering and provide mapping for various industriesand Maguindanao for coconut and palm oil, Lanao del Sur for cassava and abaca, Tawi-Tawi for seaweeds, Basilan for coffee, Sulu for coffee and cacao, among others. Our vision is for our industries to be competitive and to improve the lives of our people in the region. I do hope there will come a time when we will no longer need the 4Ps and that we will have freedom from hunger by providing better incomes for our people through livelihood and business programs, he said. Trade Assistant Secretary for Industry Development Rafaelita Aldaba who discussed the Philippines’ new industrial policy and linking local producers to the global value chains (GVC) during the multi sector conference said, ARMM offers a lot of economic opportunities and potentials given its inherent strengths in the agriculture. There is no reason for ARMM to be poor. We can transform the region by moving from traditional agriculture into a more modern agribusiness to allow us to confidently participate in GVCs, Assistant Secretary Aldaba said. ARMM’s poverty incidence remains at 53.7 percent in 2015, while unemployment is at 3.5 percent in 2015, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. At the localization of roadmaps conference, BOI Chairman Mastura also presented BOI ARMM’s 2017 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP)—a listing of priority industries that will be given investment incentives in the region. BOI ARMM’s IPP Listing will be joined with the BOI National’s IPP Listing and will then be endorsed to President Rodrigo Duterte for approval. BOI ARMM’s preferred investment activities includeand export activities agriculture, agribusiness, aquaculture and fishery basic industries infrastructure and services industrial services facilities engineering industries logistics BIMP-EAGA-related investment enterprises tourism health education services and facilities Halal industry banking and non-bank financial institutions and facilities and energy/power generation. The localization of roadmaps in ARMM focused on coffee, cacao, rubber, and palm oil as these were earlier identified as agriculture-based produce with potentials for growth and can be aligned and linked with the national industry roadmaps. Presenting the industry situationers and potentials for growth in these sectors were resource persons from the private and government sectors namelyand DTI Mountain Province Director and Regional Coffee Point Person Juliet Lucas for coffee DTI-XI Assistant Regional Director and National Coordinator for the Cacao Cluster Engr. Edwin Banquerigo for cacao and Philippine Palm Oil Development Council Secretary/Director Dr. Pablito Pamplona for palm oil. The activity closed with a way forward from Urooj Malik, Chairman and CEO of Hineleban Foundation, and a remark from Engr. Philroy Malana, Senior Operations Manager of Agumil Philippines Incorporated. The Industry Roadmapping Project is BOI’s program in partnership with various industries and sectors in the development and implementation of industry roadmaps. An Industry Roadmap assesses an industry’s performance, opportunities, and challenges, outlines the vision, goals and objectives, strategies, timelines, and various interventions it needs to be globally-competitive. The roadmaps are crafted and implemented by the industry players themselves with the guidance of the BOI as well as other government agencies. To date, there are already 42 sectoral roadmaps submitted to the BOI. Of this number, 35 roadmaps have been completed and are currently being implemented or for implementation, while the rest are still subject to enhancement/finalization. The BOI has been going around the country since last year to encourage localization of roadmaps in the regions especially those industries that are dominant or thriving in the area and its alignment and linkage with the national industry roadmaps. BOI, in coordination with the DTI regional offices, conducted nine regional conferences in Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Tagaytay, Pampanga, Zamboanga, Palawan and Naga in 2015. This year, regional conferences were also held in La Union for the Ilocos Region, in Tugegarao for the Cagayan Valley Region, and Tacloban City for the Eastern Visayas Region, Butuan for the Caraga Region, General Santos City for the Soccsksargen Region, and Cagayan de Oro for the Northern Mindanao Region.