EU-PH FTA must be comprehensive – UK
Manila Bulletin | 10 March 2014
EU-PH FTA must be comprehensive – UK
The British government would like the proposed EU-Philippines free trade agreement to be a comprehensive one with very few exceptions.
“Our desire is to have a broad free trade agreement with very, very few exceptions,” British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad told reporters at the sidelines of the “Great British Festival” recently held in Global City.
Negotiations and some preliminary works have been ongoing for several years already, but Ahmad said the real negotiation is yet to start. The Philippines and EU signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in June, 2011 in Brussels at the conclusion of the seventh round of negotiations.
The PCA is not yet a free-trade agreement. While it enhances cooperation in various trade matters, it does not include specific trade concessions by either party. However, should the EU and Philippines decide to negotiate an FTA, the PCA would facilitate its conclusion. The signing of the PCA also signaled the start of negotiations for the proposed bilateral FTA between the Philippines and EU.
The UK, a major player in the 17-member EU, is not also in a hurry to conclude the planned FTA.
“It’s early days yet. These are the things you cannot really push because you want to get it right and there are things you cannot undo once there is agreement,” the Ambassador said.
What the UK government would like to happen is once the FTA is done, both parties can trade freely with consumers getting the most benefit in terms of price and quality of products.
Ahmad further said that the UK has found little trade issues with the Philippines noting that trade with Philippine companies and exporters was complementary, especially on tropical food products. “We found we will have very few differences but everything should be carefully done because this FTA will be forever,” he said.
Among ASEAN countries, Singapore has already concluded an FTA with EU while Vietnam is close to concluding a deal. As the EU-PH proposed FTA negotiations appeared slow in coming, the Philippines and the rich-member states of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) have agreed to sign in the first quarter of 2014 a Joint Declaration to pursue negotiations for a bilateral free trade area (FTA) even as the government is looking forward to forging FTAs with other countries, particularly emerging economies, as negotiations in the WTO continue to stall.
Trade and Industry Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., who held successful meeting with the ministers of the 4-member EFTA states in Geneva last year, told reporters earlier, “We have positive talks with EFTA ministers and we have come to an agreement to won on a Joint Declaration to pursue FTA negotiations.”
