Entrepreneurs are encouraged to continue exporting despite the weakening of the country’s export performance.

“…There are still many untapped opportunities, although not without investing on the right market, products and processes that can give us the edge,” said Dr. Mina Gabor, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT) trustee for the tourism sector.

In a speech read by PHILEXPORT trustee for holiday decors, gifts and premiums sector Mila Lacson, Gabor cited business opportunities available for her sector.

“We had started going around the regions getting buy-ins to implement a program that will impact not only on services exports but on goods as well. Thus, the current thrust to give a new export push to the Creative and Wearables sectors complements our Tourism efforts,” she said.

Gabor, former tourism secretary, also exhorted the private sector not to be too dependent on government, which she said is “always short on resources.”

“But there are also best practices from government-private sector partnership that work. And we intend to duplicate them in areas possible, particularly in this industry situation,” she said.

Government data showed merchandise exports declined by 2.5 percent year-on-year by the end of the first quarter this year, marking the fourth straight month of export decline since December 2018.

“While the soft global market and economy may have a lot to do with the slower export performance, we cannot take this sitting down. The April 0.4-percent growth can easily be wiped out by any strong export offensive by our ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) competitors,” Gabor added.