The Philippines is set to sign by early next year a “joint declaration for economic cooperation” with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a move seen to place the country in a strategic position to further boost trade and investments with Europe.
The declaration is expected to pave the way for further talks and negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with EFTA, which is comprised of four European economies—Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said his recent trip to Brussels and Geneva allowed him to meet with top-level ministers of the EFTA for technical discussions.
“We have come to an agreement that the Philippines and the EFTA will work on a ’joint declaration for economic cooperation.’ This declaration is about how we can explore ways and take steps to promote more economic trade and investment interaction between the Philippines and EFTA,” Cristobal explained. “We don’t know yet the actual start of negotiations for an FTA. We have to first have the signing of the declaration, then we decide when and where to start possible FTA negotiations. We have initial studies, and we’re doing our own consultations and domestic processes,” he added.
Cristobal admitted that the EFTA states were not big markets compared to the country’s other existing partners in Europe. These four countries, however, are “rich markets” particularly for niche and high-end products.
“Our main interest is to attract their investments. They have huge corporations that can bring in their technological know-how, as well as capital to invest in our industries and our economy. There are big Swiss firms here already like Nestle. But there are still other companies like that who are looking at the (Asian) region as a market,” he added.
Cristobal also reported that the submission of the country’s application to avail itself of benefits under the European Union’s new Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme or GSP+, has been delayed anew.