Expanded Role of Foreign Service Posts
- Department of Foreign Affairs directs its foreign posts to prioritize economic and commercial representation.
- Such representation includes promoting trade, investments, tourism, protecting overseas workers' welfare, engaging in trade policy, negotiating official development assistance and debt matters, facilitating technology transfer and overseas employment, and providing economic information.
Necessity for Interagency Cooperation
- Effective economic and commercial representation requires close cooperation among various government departments and agencies.
Unified Country-Team Representation Abroad
- Representatives of different government departments and agencies posted abroad must act collaboratively as a one country-team.
- This team concept extends beyond economic and commercial issues to politico-security and social sectors.
Leadership and Composition of the Country-Team (Section 1)
- All Philippine government officers and personnel abroad, including Trade Commissioners, CFO attaches, and other specialized attaches, form a country-team on a per country basis.
- The Ambassador in the host country serves as the team leader.
- Consulates within host countries are part of this country-team under Ambassador leadership.
- Visiting Philippine congressional delegations shall receive full support and information from the country-team.
Mission Definition and Work Programme (Section 2)
- Each country-team must define a mission aligned with national policies on development diplomacy.
- Annually, the team must prepare a work programme detailing specific targets, activities, and responsible team members.
- The work programme is categorized sectorally into economic, politico-security, and social sectors.
Establishment of the Development Diplomacy Committee (Section 3)
- A Cabinet-level support group, the Development Diplomacy Committee, is formed to guide and support work programme formulation and implementation.
- The Committee is co-chaired by representatives from the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry.
- Sub-committees at the senior official level monitor the work programmes implementation.
- The Committee and sub-committees may include representatives from other government agencies, the business sector, media, and various civic organizations.
Legal Authority and Formalization
- The directive is issued by President Fidel V. Ramos under his legal powers.
- The Executive Order mandates adoption of the country-team approach for development diplomacy to optimize performance abroad.