Preparations for Pacific pact to take five years
BusinessWorld | September 30, 2010
Preparations for Pacific pact to take five years
Ana Mae G. Roa
THE CURRENT administration can be expected only to set the stage for the country’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the Trade chief said yesterday, noting that reforms needed to participate in the emerging trade bloc would take time to adopt.
Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo told reporters in a briefing in Malacañan Palace that joining the TPP is crucial for the Philippines’ trade relations with United States, since the Obama administration is no longer pursuing bilateral free trade agreements. "The only way we can have a trade agreement with the US right now is through the TPP. So, it makes a lot of sense for us to be with the TPP," he said. "Otherwise, we will be left behind."
But Mr. Domingo admitted that joining the TPP is an ambitious plan that requires the government to work harder at strengthening or amending laws on human rights, child labor, environmental protection and intellectual property rights, not to mention constitutional limits on foreign ownership in utilities, transportation, media and education, as well as practice of profession.
"I think [joining the TPP] will be a five- to eight-year process. We might see the start of it at the tail end of the Aquino administration and the bulk of it will be achieved by the next administration. All the setup has to be done in this administration," he said.
Barbara Weisel, assistant US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a press roundtable discussion in Manila last Tuesday that the government will have to think hard if it really wants to join the TPP, since it will require the opening up of the country’s service sector — a touchy issue since this accounts for more than half of the domestic economy — and other substantial changes in laws and even to the Constitution.
Still, Mr. Domingo added that "it’s possible we’ll be able to join before the end of the Aquino administrationWe’re hoping, without forcing us to lift Constitutional limitations, that we can participate in some form already."
President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, in his speech at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York last week, sought US support for the Philippines to join the TPP.
TPP talks have been ongoing among Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.
