Business
At the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Philippines’
Trade Department and the US-ASEAN Business Council (seated L to R):
Ambassador Michael W. Michalak, Senior Vice President and Regional
Managing Director at the US-ASEAN Business Council, Clavesillas and
Palabyab. Behind them are the other meeting delegates
Credit: www.dti.gov.ph
PTTC-GMEA designated administrator of
the ASEAN Online Academy
T
rade Sec Lopez says DTI’s training arm now global
in reach but still focused on local MSMEs
The Trade Department and the US-ASEAN
Business Council formalized their collaboration
on the ASEAN SME Academy, an online
resource platform for ASEAN MSMEs, through
a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
signed on 24 April at the 7th Meeting of the
Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises held in Vietnam. Signing
on behalf of DTI were Nestor Palabyab, executive director of the
PTTC Global MSME Academy (PTTC-GMEA) and Jerry T. Clavesillas,
director of the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development
(BSMED). BSMED is the official country representative of DTI to the
ASEAN Coordinating Committee.
PTTC-GMEA’s pivotal role in the management of the ASEAN Online
Academy comes on the heels of its transformation into the PTTC
Global MSME Academy (PTTC-GMEA). According to Trade Secretary
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Ramon M. Lopez, this designation is very much aligned with the
Trade Department’s concerted effort reach out to MSMEs. “We want
to provide a home for entrepreneurial education and offer more
courses, especially for our MSMEs,” Lopez says.
Empowering MSMEs and hastening their integration into either
the country’s mainstream economy or the new world economic
order is aligned with the vision of President Rodrigo Duterte for
more inclusive growth and lowering poverty through sustainable
livelihood.
“We are very proud of this designation because it is a validation
of PTTC-GMEA’s growing influence, not just here in the country, but
beyond Philippine shores, as well,” says Palabyab.
“PTTC has always provided our entrepreneurs and would-be
entrepreneurs with cohesive training programs that will allow them
to pursue either an export-oriented business, or one that is focused
on the domestic market. Through the PTTC-GMEA, we can teach
MSMEs how to fish, so to speak,” Palabyab says. www.pttc.gov.ph
www.dti.gov.ph