She said the DTI already finished consultations in Sarangani, while her staff were in Cotabato for the same consultation last Thursday. Next in line will be North Cotabato, then Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato.
Dillera said they allot two days of consultation each area.
Dillera said the next step would be meeting concerned government agencies to respond to the issues raised by the SMEs.
The last stage would be bringing the SMEs and the government agencies together in a plenary to level off things, Ms. Dillera said.
Statistics show that last year, Region 12 was the third largest contributor to Mindanao’s economy with its gross regional domestic product amounting to P41.9 billion, constituting 19.5 percent of Mindanao’s economy, said Herlita Caraan, chief of the National Statistical Coordination Board in the region. She explained that this means for every one peso worth of goods and services generated in Mindanao in 2005, 20 centavos was contributed by Region 12.
The list was topped by Region 10 (Northern Mindanao, P58 billion) and Region 11 (Southern Mindanao, P55.8 billion).
Mindanao’s gross domestic product last year was P214 billion, a considerable increase from 2004’s P205 billion.
The combined share of Region 10, 11 and 12 comprised nearly three-fourths (72.7 percent) of Mindanao’s 2005 total domestic output, making them the island’s economic driver.
Central Mindanao banked on the agriculture, fishery and forestry (AFF) sectors in its 2005 performance, which comprised 41.7 percent of the area’s economy.