MAKATI, May 30 -- The Philippines’ dynamic, vibrant and globally competitive workforce is a sweet spot for the country’s economic future. But the lack of an integrated and coherent government policy and strategy to support the services sector is a threat to its competitiveness given the constantly innovating global economy.
To address this, state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and are co-organizing the "National Workshop on Services” on June 2 and 3 at the SGV Conference Hall, AIM Conference Center, Benavidez corner Trasierra Streets, Legaspi Village, Makati City.
The Workshop, organized with the support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Trade Centre, will be the first major multistakeholder conference on the Philippines’ services sector since the 2006 Services Congress. Local and international experts, industry practitioners, and government officials will exchange views and analyses on how the Philippines can maximize the potential of its services sectors in the global economy.
This is not the first time that PIDS is promoting the services sector. In 2005, the Institute, with support from the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), organized a two-day seminar titled "Services industry: growth driver for economic competitiveness” held in September as the highlight of that year’s Development Policy Research Month. The proceedings of the seminar were disseminated in a volume, The Global Challenge in Services Trade: a Look at Philippine Competitiveness, published by PIDS and GTZ.
"We recognize the role of services as the dominant driver for global growth,” PIDS president Gilberto Llanto said. "We hope to seek new approaches to the unresolved issues that prevent the country from fully maximizing the economic contributions of this sector. We hope that by tapping the key stakeholders of the services sector, we can develop a coherent and stable services policy,” he added. Llanto said the workshop is part of the government’s preparation for the country’s second chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Manila in 2015.
- See more at: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2131401447539#sthash.IeGbVyj3.dpuf
