CLOSING REMARKS
Export Marketing Forum
by
Atty. Dominador D. Buhain
Chairman, International Affairs Committee
(Book Exporters Association of the Philippines, Max’s Restaurant, Quezon Avenue,
Quezon City, January 19, 2007)
Greetings to all of you, members and guests of the Forum. To our Malaysian guests who are officers of the Malaysian Book Publishers Association (MABOPA), and members of the organizing committee of the Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair namely: Mr. Keith Thong, Managing Director of University Book Store of Malaysia, Mr. Christopher Toh, Executive Director of the University Book Store of Malaysia and Estephanie Cooi, Treasurer of the University Book Store of Malaysia.
I hope that the recently concluded session would evolve into what we hoped it to be – for a dynamic Asean representation wherein members will share their experience and expertise in the field of publishing and marketing.
May I therefore congratulate the Book Exporters Association of the Philippines (BEAP) for having invited the three executives, for taking time out in giving relevant inputs for the development of the book industry in the Philippines. I hope that there will be more opportunities that BEAP will conduct and invite members of the ASEAN countries especially the book industry organizations in their respective countries where export marketing contributes significantly in establishing the growth process in the Philippine book publishing industry.
I just would like to inform you that during the recently concluded General Assembly of the Asean Book Publishers Association (ABPA), three (3) new committees were formed, namely: 1) the Legal Committee of which I will be the Chairman,; 2) the Research and Training Committee and 3) the Co-publishing Committee which is the marketing arm of ABPA.
Under the Co-publishing Committee where the BEAP would be represented, a mechanism would be established to coordinate the process of identifying prospective customers for our members’ products in the Asean countries.
Through the coordination that would be given by ABPA, it is anticipated that the mechanism would be information-driven in order to produce high quality leads.
We hope not only to have better marketing coverage but also higher quality clientele.
Cost of marketing would hopefully be greatly reduced by eliminating blind spots and thus obtaining a greater chance of closing a deal.
I end this message with the hope of imitating the successes of the more progressive Asean countries.
Thank you.