19 January 2023, CANBERRA – Philippine Ambassador to Australia Ma. Hellen B. De La Vega met with officials from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), as well as representatives from the analytics, electronics, fruit and vegetable processing, and health sectors visiting Australia as part of their learning activity tour under the “A Future that Works” Project administered by the Philippine Business for Education (PBED) with support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

DTI Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba underscored the strong comparative advantage of the country in IT and business process outsourcing, and that Philippine industries are working towards digital transformation and upskilling for sectors to remain competitive. PBED Executive Director Justine Raagas highlighted the opportunity for education partnerships particularly on skills training and competency development.

The Ambassador explained that with the robust partnership of the Philippines and Australia across many sectors, science, technology and innovation will remain a focus of cooperation alongside skills and education, including technical and vocational education and training. She stated that investments, projects and official development assistance on these areas would be most useful as the Philippines envisions a prosperous economy driven by competition and productivity.

The “A Future that Works” Project aims to help reduce the mismatch of jobs and skills to ensure the competitiveness of the industry through effective workforce development systems. The project involves a visit to Australia wherein the Philippine delegation engages with Australian Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and skills development providers to learn about SSC models, best practices and effective policy and governance structures. -END-