PH, UAE resume FTA talks; completion of technical matters eyed this week

The Philippine and United Arab Emirates flags |  INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Philippines and the United Arab Emirates on Monday resumed the negotiations for their planned free trade agreement (FTA), with both sides striving to complete the technical discussions this week.

Philippine trade undersecretary Allan Gepty, who is leading the negotiations happening in Dubai for the southeast Asian country, said they will hold talks until Wednesday to complete the remaining work for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

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“For this round of technical discussion and negotiations, we are working to substantially conclude the text based as well as the market access negotiations with the view that by the end of October or first week of November we can conclude the negotiations,” Gepty told the Inquirer in a Viber message.

“We are left with few outstanding issues so hopefully we can resolve them,” he said further.

Gepty added that he will meet with his counterpart on Friday to discuss and resolve any remaining issues.

The first round of the CEPA negotiations this year, which lasted three days, was also held in Dubai back in May.

The second one was held in Manila mid-July, while a third round was held virtually late September.

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.

Better market access of other goods including tropical fruits and garments, as well as high-end, finished consumer goods like luxury watches, belts and other leather products, are also on the table.

The CEPA will become the Philippines fourth bilateral FTA, if it pushes through, next to the Philippines-South Korea FTA in 2023, the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA) in 2006, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 2016.

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Sought for comment, China Bank Capital Corp. managing director Juan Paolo Colet told the Inquirer that the proposed free trade agreement is expected to boost the country’s exports of goods to the UAE, which is a gateway to the much larger Gulf market.

“What is important is that we are able to finalize a win-win deal that gives competitive Filipino businesses greater access to promising economies in the Middle East,” Colet said.

“This initiative should also be taken in the context of the government’s broader strategy of developing our export markets through bilateral trade agreements,” he added.

Further, he said that the expansion of exports is crucial to supporting higher gross domestic product (GDP) growth, expressing hope that all these efforts lead to a better overall trade balance.

He highlighted that the last time the Philippines saw a surplus was in May 2015.

Two-way trade between the two countries reached $1.88 billion in 2023, with exports from the Southeast Asian nation totaling $341.97 million while imports from the Middle Eastern country were valued at $1.54 billion, according to the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA).