[{"bbox": [96, 155, 1134, 242], "category": "Text", "text": "region in general following the EU's Indo-Pacific Strategy, and in the Philippines in particular. Digital Governance and Digital Connectivity are two of the seven priority areas of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific adopted in September 2021⁷."}, {"bbox": [96, 255, 1134, 633], "category": "Text", "text": "In South-East Asia, the ASEAN-EU Joint Ministerial Statement on Connectivity ⁸adopted in 2020 encourages the development of quality infrastructure investment and its contribution towards affordable, reliable and sustainable connectivity, with due consideration to the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment. It states the necessity to reinforce 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. The Philippines Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 echoes the European Union strategies and places digital transformation at the core of the country's economic and social development. The Plan advocates open access to essential infrastructure facilities in key sectors. It puts the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in charge of promoting infrastructure sharing, including of government assets, by working with private owners of essential facilities. DICT and NTC are to issue policies to ensure that all players in the ICT sector are assured of fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms to access essential facilities. Open access in data transmission has been enacted by the Senate Bill N°1763."}, {"bbox": [96, 650, 1134, 796], "category": "Text", "text": "The national Development Plan 2023-2028 benefits from strong governmental support and involvement of international financial institutions. The status of preparedness or the level of implementation of other national plans such as the E-Government Masterplan 2022 and the Pagtanaw 2050 are more uncertain. Nevertheless, all plans developed by the Philippines' authorities see the development of the digital sector as a lever for the country's development."}, {"bbox": [96, 808, 1134, 1043], "category": "Text", "text": "The Multi-annual Indicative Programme 2021-2027 (MIP)⁹ for the Philippines describes the overall objectives for the EU's international cooperation in the Philippines and EU support per priority areas. Digital connectivity pertains to priority area 1: Green, Resilient Economy and Green Jobs. EU support in this area will unlock opportunities to contribute to a green, resilient economy, enabled by enhanced digital connectivity. Under Specific Objective 2 (SO 2, Digital transformation and enhanced connectivity) of the MIP, the Green digital transformation in the country facilitates a more effective response to natural disasters, climate change, and environmental challenges. The Digital Economy Package in the Philippines is closely intertwined with other on-going initiatives, such as the EU-ASEAN Sustainable Connectivity Package, and the Copernicus Philippines Programme."}, {"bbox": [96, 1056, 1134, 1231], "category": "Text", "text": "The Copernicus Philippines Programme is contributing to the effective management of the environment and the natural resources of the Philippine ecosystems and will improve the resilience of all livelihoods against natural hazards and climate change-related threats. The EU-ASEAN Sustainable Connectivity Package (SCOPE) ¹⁰ seeks to improve sustainable connectivity between the EU and ASEAN and within ASEAN, in line with the respective EU and ASEAN connectivity strategies. The package covers various aspects of hard and soft connectivity (road and transportation, trade, energy, people to people, etc.) and includes a digital component."}, {"bbox": [96, 1246, 1134, 1390], "category": "Text", "text": "The Digital Economy Package will benefit from lessons learnt from recently completed programmes and contribute to current EU programmes related to developing hard and soft connectivity in the Philippines and in the region. These initiatives are: (1) the ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU (ARISE+),¹¹ its successor under SCOPE and its national component for the Philippines: Trade-Related Assistance (Arise + Philippines); (2) EU Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region¹² (EU SHARE) and its successor SCOPE-Higher education;"}, {"bbox": [85, 1502, 710, 1526], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁷ https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/eu-strategy-cooperation-indo-pacific_en"}, {"bbox": [85, 1526, 715, 1550], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸ EU-ASEAN joint ministerial statement on connectivity, 1 December 2020"}, {"bbox": [85, 1550, 1071, 1574], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹ https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-01/mip-2021-c2021-8998-philippines-annex_en.pdf"}, {"bbox": [85, 1574, 656, 1598], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_7678"}, {"bbox": [85, 1598, 329, 1622], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ https://ariseplus.asean.org/"}, {"bbox": [85, 1622, 342, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² https://www.share-asean.eu/"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 35"}]