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revised 25 September 2009

Theme
Regional Value Chain Conference on Agribusiness and Tourism: 
Towards an Active Private Sector Participation, Efficient Support Structure and Conducive Economic Policy

Date and Venue
October 20, 2009 (Agribusiness)
October 21, 2009 (Tourism)
Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City, Philippines

Background
The German Development Cooperation (BMZ and GTZ), the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC and SECO), and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) held the international conference on Value Chains (VC) for Broad-Based Development in Berlin last May 30-31, 2007. The event was in recognition of the role of VC Promotion as an important field of economic cooperation.

The conference concluded that the VC approach contributes to reducing poverty if it is employed strategically and concentrates on targeting the poverty problem. The use of various approaches available to support the poor are beneficial, e.g. fostering associations, skills development and learning, contract arrangements and information and service delivery. While it was also emphasized that choosing the right market and determining an appropriate market development strategy is important, the cooperation between development agencies and the private sector towards benefitting the poor is highlighted. Against this is a backdrop of a strong support from an active economic policy from governments towards removing administrative barriers, develop support policies and targeted investments, as well as, broader policies related to social and ecological standards.

While the VC approach is applied traditionally in agribusiness and manufacturing, the service sector notably tourism is also fast applying the approach.

The Regional VC Conference seeks to localize the findings from its precursor conference in Berlin and to take a step further by also tackling its emerging application in the tourism sector.

Objectives
  • Raise awareness on the VC approach implemented by GTZ in the Philippines and other countries of the region, how it is applied in agribusiness and tourism industries, and how it contributes to sustainable growth and employment
  • Exchange views with stakeholders and decision makers on how to optimize VC facilitation in contributing to poverty alleviation
  • Look at the role of the private sector, support institutions and governments (including local governments) in the light of providing the right policy and structural mix to maximize the gains from the VC approach
  • Receive feed-back and draw some key conclusions
Framework
The conference will be held for two days focusing on 2 sectors on a back-to-back basis. The first day will be devoted to present and discuss the VC approach applied in agribusiness for both terrestrial and marine-based industries. There will be a plenary for presentations and small group discussions to answer the questions listed below and generate feedback from the participants.

The second day will focus on tourism to start in a plenary where illustrations on tourism VC trends will be presented. Small group discussions will also follow to address specific questions listed below.
  1. What is the role of the private sector in upgrading value chains? What are the possible issues and areas in which the private sector can take the lead in promoting VC upgrading?
  2. Given the different functions and priorities of various agencies engaged in promoting value chains, what is the right structural mix/institutional arrangement to optimize the support given by such agencies? 
  3. What could be the content and binding instrument for an active economic policy that maximizes the support of VC enablers to industries with strong market potential and at the same time contribute to poverty reduction?
Presenters
Prospective speakers for the plenary are members of the VC Working Group Asia, i.e. GTZ, Swisscontact and  SNV, VC practitioners, plus inputs from the GTZ-HQ.
Small group discussions will be formed to discuss case studies to be presented by both local and international practitioners from the Sector Network, other Development Agencies in the Philippines applying the VC approach, e.g. ACDI VOCA, CIDA/Philippine Development Assistance Program, Action for Enterprise. 

Target Participants
  • For Day 1 (Agribusiness) –  Agribusiness stakeholders (Private sector, government agencies, development organizations)
  • For Day 2 (Tourism) – Tourism stakeholders (private sector, government agencies, development organizations)

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