Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual confirmed that the Philippines and the European Union will resume free trade agreement discussions, following the visit of European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen in Manila to meet President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Pascual visited Brussels in June, as a follow up to DTI’s campaign in 2022 to resume the PH-EU FTA negotiations. He held a series of meetings with key officials in the EU Commission and EU Parliament including Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala, EP Chair of International Trade Committee Bernd Lange and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The meetings focused on the renewal of the EU-Generalized Scheme of Preferences-Plus (EU-GSP+) and PH-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
“With the country’s upward growth trajectory towards reaching upper middle-income status, it is important for the Philippines and the EU to resume FTA negotiations. The FTA will serve as a more permanent basis for the Philippines’ economic relations with the EU than the time-bound GSP+ coverage currently enjoyed by the Philippines as a lower middle-income country,” Pascual said.
He said the Philippines and EU government technical experts would hold meetings in the coming months to cover a range of topics from market access of goods, and services, investment liberalization, trade and sustainable development, government procurement, dispute settlement, among others.
“Under the leadership of President Marcos Jr., the DTI along with our inter-agency negotiating team will closely work with counterparts from the European Commission to ensure the success of the scoping exercise this year. We look forward to the results of this exercise in support of our mutual objective to officially resume the PH-EU FTA negotiations in the most opportune time,” he said.
The scoping exercise is responsive to the strong call of the business sector, he said, adding that the DTI recognizes the recommendations of the business sector.
The DTI recognizes the recommendations from the business sector to resume the FTA negotiations, with entities such as the German Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, EU-ASEAN Business Council and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines leading the call, according to Pascual.
ECCP conducted a survey among its members, mostly composed of European companies, in the first half of 2023. The said survey showed that 81 percent of the companies recommend the timely conclusion of the PH-EU FTA negotiations.
A May 2020 survey conducted by the German Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry also showed that 83 percent of German companies advocated for the resumption of Philippines-EU FTA negotiations.
“The PH-EU FTA would be a strategic platform for the economic engagement of the EU in the Indo-Pacific and PH can very well serve as its strategic trade partner,” Pascual said.
Since last year, the Philippines and the EU have been closely working together after the assumption of the Marcos administration. There have been high-level exchanges with the EU Council, EU Commission and EU Parliament since last year.
These included DTI’s visit as well as the PH-EU Interparliamentary Meeting in October 2022, President Marcos’s visit in December 2022, EU’s Parliament visit in Manila in February 2023 and the DTI Secretary’s follow-up meeting with the EU Parliament and EU Commission in June 2023.