Marcos admin expanding free trade deals

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA – The Marcos administration continues to diversify its trade partners by forging free trade agreements (FTAs) with various countries.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary for International Trade Group Allan Gepty said in a recent interview that the country remains on track to meet its timeline in terms of FTA negotiations.

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Gepty said the Philippines and the European Union (EU) will resume formal negotiations by October.

“This coming October, 14 or 18 if I’m not mistaken, we’ll now start the next round of negotiation,” he said.

Gepty said the elements and chapters that will be discussed in the next round of talks will be more comprehensive.

DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual and European Commission (EC) executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis jointly announced on March 18 the resumption of negotiations of the Philippines-EU FTA after talks were put on hold in 2017.

The parties had two formal negotiations in Brussels, Belgium in 2016 and in Cebu province in 2017.

Gepty also reported that the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates recently concluded the second round of negotiations.

“This is another milestone in our international trade relations because this will be the first time, if ever, that we will have an FTA with a Middle Eastern country. And that would be a good takeoff point also for us to access GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries,” he said.

Gepty said the Philippines is also keen to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the multilateral FTA of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

He said the country targets to apply within this year.

“Once we become part of the CPTPP, our value add here would be, of course, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. Now that UK (United Kingdom) is there, we have more reason to join (the trade pact),” he added.

“The President during his last SONA (State of the Nation Address), he made this directive towards more international economic partnerships. And in line with that, you will note that, you will note that under our Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, specifically, the direction is to expand our FTA network,” Gepty said.

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He said the DTI also aims to pursue bilateral FTAs with Chile and other Latin American countries, as well as exploring trade deals with African countries in the medium term.

Currently, the Philippines has two bilateral FTAs, with Japan and South Korea, and multilateral trade deals such as ASEAN FTA; individual trade deals with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

The two latest FTAs that the country secured were during the first year of the Marcos administration in 2022.

“In parallel with forging this international trade agreement and economic relationships with various trading partners, it is also important that we engage with the private sector by intensifying the utilization of our FTAs,” Gepty said. (PNA)