Talks on RP-EU cooperation deal to start next year
BusinessWorld | Monday, October 13, 2008
Talks on RP-EU cooperation deal to start next year
J. A. D. Hermosa
THE PHILIPPINES and the European Union (EU) have agreed to start formal talks in February for a partnership cooperation agreement (PCA) that will govern political and economic relations and lead to an EU-ASEAN free trade deal.
The negotiations will start in Manila, said Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, following an agreement reached in Brussels last week.
"It (the PCA) would set the overall framework between the Philippines and the EU ... It is a full spectrum agreement. It’s not a trade agreement [but] it would be the necessary first step before [one]," he said in a telephone interview on Friday.
Intellectual property rights and climate change will be among the areas covered by the agreement, Philippine ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union Cristina G. Ortega said in another telephone interview.
Ms. Ortega and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Edsel T. Custodio represented the Philippines in last week’s meeting with EU director general for Asia and Latin America Joao Aguiar Machado and EU director for Asia James Moran.
Human rights and energy security will also be covered as the PCA has chapters on political discussion, economic cooperation and development relations, Mr. MacDonald added.
Formal relations between the EU and Association of Southeast Asian Nations are currently guided by the EEC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement signed in 1980. The two regions agreed to revise the agreement in 1991 as developments in migration and terrorism and other issues were not covered.
In 2007, the Council of the European Union authorized the European Commission to broker a free trade deal with the ASEAN, but noted that PCAs with individual countries must first be made.
The EU has concluded negotiations with Indonesia while talks with Malaysia are in the final stages, Mr. MacDonald said.
"We will be delighted if the agreement [with the Philippines] could be signed within a year," Mr. Macdonald said.
But George N. Manzano, an economist of the University of Asia and the Pacific, warned that it may be difficult to broker such a pact.
"If they link economic openness with human rights and intellectual property rights, it may not be as easy [to negotiate] as a free trade agreement," he said yesterday.
"There should [also] be disciplines to create an even playing field [because] they’re subsidizing a lot of [their] exports," he added.
Mr. Manzano clarified, however, that the agreement should still be explored since it would secure the Philippines’ access to EU markets.
"Just to be careful, we don’t want to be signing something that we will have a hard time complying with. We might not get the concessions [if we can’t meet the standards], but it is definitely worth exploring because the EU is a large market."
