DTI chief eyes creative industry sector as key driver for export

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) aims to boost Philippine exports in services through the creative industry.

DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez underscored the potential of the industry in strengthening the export sector and supporting the Duterte administration’s goal of creating more jobs and employment opportunities for Filipinos.

“We need to look at creative industries that can bring in economic growth. Apart from making our creative talent pool more competitive and attractive in international markets, we are also pushing for more trade and intellectual property rights activities,” said Lopez during the National Export Congress 2019.

According to the trade chief, the creative industry is a high value-adding sector and the Philippines has a natural competitive edge in this area considering the rich pool of Filipino talents.

“In fact, when we conduct our trade and investment roadshows abroad, we ensure that we bring our private and government partners from advertising, animation, film, game development and design, to attract investors as well as encourage companies to expand and locate in the Philippines,” Lopez added.

In 2018, the export services sector has reached US$38.4 million. Information technology (IT)-related services generated US$22,666 million, accounting for 59 percent and non-IT services of US$15,746 million representing 41 percent.

The IT-related services are composed of telecommunications, computer and information services, other business services and audio-visual services. Under other business services, which include some creative industry sectors such as animation, game and software development, garnered 73 percent or US$16,448 million of the total exports of IT-related services.

The Philippines aims to be the top creative economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in terms of size and value by 2030.

DTI has launched the Creative Economy Roadmap that has priority initiatives and sub-sectors where public and private sectors collaborate to accelerate the economy.

The priority initiatives include policies, industries, clusters, cities, tourism and education. Priority sectors include advertising, film, animation, game development and graphic arts and design.