MANILA, Philippines--Team Europe is rounding up business process outsourcing (BPO) companies for a trade mission planned for second half of the year.

Launched last week, Team Europe is a task force whose goal is to promote the Philippines as a BPO destination. It is spearheaded by the European and British chambers of commerce in the country.

Last year, the European BPO market overtook the US in terms of overall contract value, according to Stephanie Weber, business development manager for the European IT Service Center (EITSC), who is also heading Team Europe.

The European (or EU) market grew by 28 percent last year in terms of contract value, Weber said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

"The European has been largely untapped in the past but it is now fast catching up with the American market and is slowly maturing," she said.

According to her, the biggest stumbling block for local BPO companies is the lack of awareness of the Philippines among European businesses.

"The biggest problem [in Europe] right now is that people don't really know much about the Philippines," said Weber. "There is lack of awareness about a business district here like Makati or there is good infrastructure to support BPO."

The country, however, has made some inroads in the European or EU market. Last October, UK's National Outsourcing Association named the Philippines as the top "emerging" destination for offshore outsourcing.

Weber believes Europe remains a largely untapped market. Also, she noted that the euro is a more stable currency compared to the US dollar.

"In comparison to peso, it has risen by only eight percent compared with 18 to 20 percent for the US dollar last year," she said. ""This gives local companies a more stable base to calculate the value of their contracts now and for the future as well."

Asked whether Team Europe is funding the trade mission, Weber said participating companies would have to shoulder their own expenses.

"Team Europe is purely a promotional, not a sales office," she clarified. "Our message is that local companies would have to go out and present themselves first as a country, and later as individual companies."

Team Europe, she added, also has plans of bringing representatives from European companies to visit the country.