THE UK and the Philippines are hoping for greater utilization of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), the British Embassy in Manila said.
“We are very pleased to be working with the government of the Philippines to try to increase utilization,” British Embassy Manila Director of Trade and Investment Lindsey Gilbert-Crouch said in a roundtable discussion late Tuesday.
“I believe in the next few days, we are going to be launching an exporters handbook to help support that,” she added.
Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) Director Bianca Pearl R. Sykimte said that the handbook aims to help exporters access the UK market.
“I think towards the end of the week, we’re launching the handbook as part of our Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO). So, we are launching a guidebook on how to access the UK market, leveraging the DCTS,” Ms. Sykimte told reporters on Monday.
She said that the JETCO, aside from increasing trade, aims to improve the utilization rate of the DCTS, which is currently around 68%.
“We have also had discussions with the UK government on relaxing some of the rules for sectors that have underutilized the scheme, specifically garments,” she said.
“The UK has also had several consultations with other developing countries availing of DCTS. And one of the focus sectors is garments, because it has low utilization,” she added.
Ms. Gilbert-Crouch said DCTS utilization by the Philippines is “pretty high.”
“Obviously we would love to see utilization at 100%; that’s the dream. I don’t know if we will ever get there, but utilization is actually pretty high at the moment,” she said.
“So really, our goal at the moment is to work closely with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to make sure that as many exporters as possible are aware of the scheme,” she added.
She also noted the UK’s work with Boston Consulting Group in exploring new industries that could benefit from the DCTS.
The UK and the Philippines held the inaugural JETCO meeting on March 17 with the aim of upgrading the growing bilateral economic relationship.
During the meeting, a program of work to advance bilateral cooperation over the next 12-18 months was endorsed, which includes government-to-government and government-to-business activities.
Collaboration will center on priority areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, energy, economic development, life sciences, and technology.
UK Trade Commissioner for the Asia-Pacific Martin Kent also said that the UK and the Philippines committed to progress a government-to-government financing framework partnership.
“That will unlock about 5 billion pounds worth of export finance to support sustainable public infrastructure and improve access to UK expertise and technology in the Philippines,” Mr. Kent said.
The government-to-government framework will also expand access to other sources of cooperation.
“Both countries agreed to develop a project pipeline through the Infrastructure Sectoral Working Group in anticipation of the establishment of the Framework,” the UK Department for Business and Trade said on March 19.
This year, the UK chose the Philippines to be the venue for the UK-Southeast Asia Tech Week. It brought 12 UK tech companies to meet 40 Filipino firms to explore and discuss commercial opportunities.
“The fact that this event is happening in the Philippines for the first time demonstrates just quite how much is happening bilaterally and quite how significant the potential for further partnerships is from the perspective of the UK,” British Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils said.
Mr. Kent said that there are no firm targets set in terms of how much investment the UK firms will be bringing in.
“But I think we’re going to be quite impressed by what we see over the short and medium term. There was a real buzz about this Southeast Asia Tech Week, and I think we’re going to see UK exports into the Philippines. We’re also going to see Philippine exports to the UK,” he said.
“I think we’re going to see investment from the UK into the Philippines and vice versa as well. And I think we’ll probably also start to see more British businesses setting up here and working in collaboration and partnerships, so no firm targets, but we are seeing some very promising early signs so far,” he added.
According to Ms. Gilbert-Crouch, the country’s talent and market make the Philippines an attractive destination for UK firms.
“This is a market filled with people who have the types of skills that tech companies are looking for, and that’s very important,” she said.
“(Another thing) is the size of the potential market. This is a country of over 100 million people, so there’s very strong demand for a lot of UK tech products and UK tech expertise. And I think UK companies are really just keen to tap into that,” she added.
Mr. Kent also announced the launch of the Tech Growth Program, which is a partnership with Philippine venture capital firm Kickstart Ventures.
“The program will match UK startups to potential investments from Kickstart ventures through the Economic Corporation Technology Innovation Venture Fund, one of the largest venture funds in the Philippines,” he said.
“This collaboration reflects the UK’s strong commitment to providing innovative tech to the Philippines. And our strategic partnership with FinTech Alliance Philippines, announced this week, marks the beginning of a new era in UK-Philippines fintech cooperation,” he added.
The EMB reported that total trade between the UK and the Philippines was $1.18 billion in 2024. The UK was the Philippines’ 23rd leading trading partner last year.
According to Mr. Kent, over 200 British companies are operating in the Philippines. — Justine Irish D. Tabile