To boost the Philippines’ competitiveness and strengthen the country’s industries, the President has issued an executive order renaming and expanding the membership of the Public-Private Sector Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness.

In executive order (EO) 44, President Benigno Aquino III renamed the task force as the National Competitive Council (NCC) and expanded it to include more agencies and private-sector representatives.

Amending EO 571 issued by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Aquino also removed the NCC from the Office of the President and attached it to the Department of Trade and Industry. He said the NCC should report to the Cabinet cluster on economic development.

The Trade Secretary will chair the NCC, with a private-sector representative as co-chair. It will also be composed of the secretaries of Education, Energy, Finance, Planning, and Tourism, as well as five private-sector representatives.

The old NCC did not include the secretaries of Energy and Tourism, and only had three private-sector representatives. The composition of the new NCC, however, dropped the Transportation secretary.

Under EO 44, the NCC will serve as the main collection point of investor issues on the industry, services, and agricultural sectors, and will advise the President on competitiveness-related policy matters.

The Aquino administration had expressed concern over the Philippines’ competitiveness after slipping to the 41st place from the 39th in the 2011 World Competitiveness Yearbook released by the International Institute for Management Development on May 18.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, however, said the Palace remains confident that the Philippines’ rankings “will increase dramatically" once the country rolls out its public-private partnership projects.

original source: GMA News