The Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT) has been awarded by Oxford-based Europe Business Assembly (EBA) the prestigious Best Regional Enterprise Award in recognition of its work in export development and promotion.
The voluntary association of political, scientific and business leaders from all over the world recognized PHILEXPORT also for its effectiveness, leadership, managerial capacity, and corporate social responsibility.
The EBA has a special consultative status in the Economic and Social Council of the UN (UNECOSOC) which was created in 1945 as one of six principal bodies of the UN.
The country’s umbrella organization of exporters was nominated by international development partners and among the Best Enterprise Award and Manager of the Year winners from developed and developing countries including Canada, Singapore, India, Romania, Qatar, Ukraine, Malaysia, and Brazil.
EBA investigates and promotes prominent companies and created a special online platform for the exchange of the modern experience and presentation of winners` potential and achievements.
Award attributes, designed by the famous London jeweller Alfred Winiecki, confirm the business support organization outstanding achievements to partners, clients, and employees.
PHILEXPORT mandate
PHILEXPORT’s mandate comes from the Export Development Act (EDA) or RA 7844 to serve as the umbrella organization of Philippine exporters. Amid the pandemic, PHILEXPORT has developed the “New Normal Export and MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) Roadmap” urging the speedy implementation of programs and policies that can help these firms to reopen even during the crisis until reaching their full capacity, sustain their operations, and create jobs.
The roadmap aims to control the epidemic, restart and expand economic activities, and finally transition exports and MSMEs to a digital economy.
Consistent with the call to continuously reopen the economy, PHILEXPORT also pushed for the urgent approval of stimulus bills and other measures that will fund recovery programs especially for the health, MSMEs, agriculture, tourism, transportation, and unemployed sectors.
The MSME sector, comprising about 99 percent of all industries in the country, has been identified among the three hardest hit sectors of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, aside from tourism and transportation.
PHILEXPORT, which sits as vice chairman of the Export Development Council (EDC), has likewise initiated, supported and facilitated the passage of laws and policies that have contributed to the development of exports. These include the EDA, Jewelry Industry Development Act, Magna Carta for MSMEs, E-commerce Law, Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, accession to the Kyoto Convention for trade facilitation, Barangay Micro Business Enterprise Act, Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, and E-Commerce Act. The EDA gave birth to the EDC, the highest export-policymaking body in the land, World Trade Center and the National Packaging Center.
The WTC serves as a major trade events venue and was briefly used as a quarantine facility last year mostly for returning Overseas Filipino Workers.
The umbrella organization of PHILEXPORT also led the push for the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 1994, setting the tone for the liberalization of the banking, retail, telecommunications and transportation sectors.
To this day, PHILEXPORT is actively involved in opening and expanding market access for Philippine products and services through the various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). PHILEXPORT also has a continuing advocacy for a competitive exchange rate and ease of doing business and played a major role in establishing the Brunei-Indonesia- Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area or BIMP EAGA in 1994, the APEC Center for Technology Extension for Small and Medium Enterprises (ACTETSME), the bar coding system, and the Philippine Franchise and Retail Associations.
PHILEXPORT also manages the One-Stop Export Documentation Centers in Manila, Pampanga, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and General Santos to help facilitate the processing of export documents.
Working closely with government and other business support organizations, it also provides frontline services such as trade advisory, facilitation and referral; buyer-seller and investment matching; trade fair participation; special promotions programs and
selling missions to its members and foreign clients.
It also organizes a number of regular and per-need based seminars to assist members in their technical skills, managerial, product development and other training requirements.