President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday called on the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) and the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) to push for the resumption of the negotiations for a bilateral Philippine-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
“I believe that we can all agree that the timing and conditions are now quite ripe for us to solidify the long-standing and historically beneficial trade relations: through a bilateral Philippine-EU Free Trade Agreement,” Mr. Marcos said during the EU-ABC Annual General Meeting Gala Dinner in Makati City Thursday evening.
He said a bilateral FTA will be a “win-win strategy”for both the Philippines and the EU.
“Hence, I take this opportunity to call upon our friends from the EU-ABC and ECCP to actively advocate for the resumption of negotiations for this purpose, as well as to strive for fair treatment and more beneficial reciprocity.”
A Philippines-EU trade deal, he said, promises to achieve mutually beneficial economic goals while remaining consistent with the EU’s core ideals of sustainable development and environment protection, as well as with its strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
“And if and when that happens, it could very well be the capstone of all efforts to strengthen Philippine and EU relations over the course of the next decades,” said Mr. Marcos.