WHEREAS, the important role of exports in generating badly needed foreign exchange in order to spur and sustain the growth of the national economy cannot be over-emphasized;

WHEREAS, the government structure and system for trade promotion needs updating to make it more responsive to the needs of the economy and economy and adequate in meeting competition abroad;

WHEREAS, the public and private sectors must undertake concerted and coordinated: action to promote exports; and

WHEREAS, there is a need to create on appropriate agency to plan and direct the revitalization of the foreign trade program and to recommend to the President whatever policies are necessary towards the attainment of the country ™s trade objectives;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby create the Presidential Committee on Foreign Trade composed of the following:

The Secretary of Commerce and Industry .......................................................................................	Chairman
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs ....................................................................................................	Member
The Coordinator of the National Export Coordinating Center .........................................................	Member

Each member shall designate an alternate who all act in his behalf during his absence in meetings of the Committee.

1. Act as the liaison body with the President, the Congress, and the private sector with respect to natters affecting foreign trade;
   
   
2. Implement, through the departments offices, and agencies of the government, directives and orders of the President as well as laws enacted by Congress respecting foreign trade;
   
   
3. Act as the agency in charge of promoting closer relations with the various organizations in the private sector and of conducting regular dialogue with them with a view to solving their respective foreign trade problems;
   
   
4. Formulate a Four-Year Trade Expansion Program to be submitted to the President for approval;
   
   
5. Prepare and submit annually a budget for export trade promotion .and expansion and, once approved, shall be responsible for its disbursement; and
   
   
6. Undertake whatever is necessary to promote the exports of the country in accordance with existing laws and policies.

The Committee is hereby empowered to call upon any department, bureau, agency, or government-owned or controlled corporation and to form such sub-committees as may be needed to assist it in discharging its functions properly and effectively.

Done in the City of Manila, this 4th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and sixty-eight.


By the President:

(Sgd.) RAFAEL M. SALAS
Executive Secretary