[{"bbox": [98, 156, 274, 182], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Political alignment"}, {"bbox": [96, 197, 1133, 546], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action supports the Philippines in its progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 11, by reducing “the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters” and by “substantially increasing the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters”. Likewise, the Action will contribute to the implementation of the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III 2021-2025)³, focussing on the thematic area of engagement “addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition and the Digital transformation”. Additionally, the action will be aligned with the Philippine Gender Equality and Women’s empowerment Plan 2019-2025, specifically through the Strategic Goal Area 5 “Expanded opportunities for women’s participation, leadership and benefits in science, technology and innovation, ICT, infrastructure and Energy”⁴ The action will also be aligned with the ASEAN gender mainstreaming strategic framework 2021-2025⁵."}, {"bbox": [98, 563, 255, 590], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Regional context"}, {"bbox": [96, 604, 1133, 808], "category": "Text", "text": "South-East Asia is among the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impacts of climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters and a hotspot for biodiversity loss, deforestation and pollution, including the Philippines. In line with the EU's objective to reinforce global digital cooperation based on the pillars of the EU's Digital Compass (digital skills, digitalization of the public sector, digitalization of businesses and digital infrastructure), the action will support/strengthen linkages of the Philippines to the regional context via expertise support on policy dialogue on Copernicus and technical advice on potential extended functionality and data provision from the Philippines Copernicus mirror site to the regional level."}, {"bbox": [96, 822, 1133, 1026], "category": "Text", "text": "The Digital Economy Package in the Philippines will be developed in synergy with the EU-ASEAN Sustainable Connectivity Package. It will support investments in digitalisation including in acquiring connectivity capacity via submarine cables through IRUs. It conforms to the ASEAN-EU Joint Ministerial Statement on Connectivity adopted on the 1st December 2020 that encourages the development of quality infrastructure investment and its contribution towards affordable, reliable and sustainable connectivity, for reinforcing sustainable and trusted connections to tackle the most pressing global challenges, from climate change and protecting the environment, to improving health security and boosting competitiveness and global supply chains."}, {"bbox": [87, 1052, 505, 1082], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.3 Zone benefitting from the Action"}, {"bbox": [87, 1097, 889, 1124], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action shall be carried out in the Philippines included in the list of ODA recipients."}, {"bbox": [87, 1151, 321, 1183], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [87, 1217, 233, 1244], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 1278, 1133, 1394], "category": "Text", "text": "In March 2021, the European Commission published the 2030 Digital Compass: the European Way for the Digital Decade communication⁶ which sets out its long-term strategy for the digital transformation of the European Union, including global cooperation with partners. While the 2030 Digital Compass set the course, the Global Gateway strategy brings cohesion and resources that are further realised through a programme of actions in the Indo-Pacific"}, {"bbox": [87, 1472, 1142, 1519], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ European Commission (2020) “Eu Gender Action Plan III – an ambitious agenda for gender equality and women’s empowerment in EU external action”"}, {"bbox": [87, 1544, 1142, 1598], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ Updated Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Plan 2019-2025 – Philippine Commission on Women (pcw.gov.ph)"}, {"bbox": [87, 1598, 805, 1623], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ https://asean.org/book/asean-gender-mainstreaming-strategic-framework-2021-2025/"}, {"bbox": [87, 1623, 766, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0118"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1142, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 35"}]