The Philippine and United Arab Emirates flags | INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
A high-ranking trade official on Wednesday said the next round of negotiations for a planned free trade agreement between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will happen in the middle of next month in Dubai, with both sides focusing on the market access provisions of the bilateral agreement in the works.
Trade undersecretary Allan Gepty, who is heading the negotiations for the Philippine side, told the Inquirer they would meet with their counterparts from the Middle Eastern country on September 16 to continue the discussions for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
“We will focus on market access negotiation, and will continue to work on the text-based negotiations,” Gepty said in a message sent to the Inquirer.
“We have strong interest on services in UAE in addition to trade in goods. We want to provide more opportunities for our stakeholders especially Filipino professionals and (micro, small and medium enterprises who want to access foreign market or be integrated in the global value chain,” he added.
He added that they intend to finish the negotiations during the 4th round of talks in October, which will likely be in Manila.
Negotiators for the FTA from Philippines and the UAE had already convened twice this year to negotiate the terms of the FTA.
The first round of the CEPA negotiations which lasted three days was held back in May in Dubai.
The second one was held in Manila mid-July, while the third one was originally slated for this August.
In previous interviews, Gepty had said that the Philippines was targeting to expand its market access of export halal-related products in the Middle Eastern country under the CEPA.
The Philippines is also hoping for better market access for other goods such as tropical fruits and garments, as well as high-end, finished consumer goods like luxury watches, belts and other leather products.
If the CEPA pushes through, it will be the Philippines fourth bilateral FTA next to the Philippines-South Korea FTA in 2023, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 2016 and the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA) in 2006.
According to government statistics, two-way trade between the Philippines and the UAE reached $1.88 billion in 2023, with exports and imports totaling 341.97 million and $1.54 billion, respectively.
The Tariff Commission will conduct a public consultation on Friday for the CEPA.
Interested parties can also submit their position paper to the commission until September 4.