By Justine Irish D. Tabile, A reporter
The European Union (EU) may carry out more activities in the Philippines as there are negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), according to the official of the EU Delegation in the Philippines.
On the sidelines of the EU-Philippines Business Summit on Wednesday, Minister Counselor and Head of Economic Trade Division Philipp Dupuis said the EU side expects more forms of trade-related cooperation to emerge.
“In any case, there will be other forms of cooperation that will benefit the business of Filipinos. The biggest thing is that we are now entering the FTA system,” Mr. Dupuis told reporters.
“We will see if, this time, something can come up. But all this has not been decided yet. These are things that should be seen again in Brussels,” he added.
In March 2021, the EU launched ARISE (ASEAN Regional Integration Support by the EU) Plus Philippines, a 5.8 million Euro trade-related technical assistance project. It will continue until Feb. 28, 2025.
“We can see that ARISE Plus has been a successful program. But maybe we will do a lot in terms of regions now,” he said.
“I think that’s where I see this. Therefore, the regional basis means the entire ASEAN region,” he added.
According to Trade Undersecretary Allan B. Gepty, the EU has been one of the Philippines’ providers of technical assistance and capacity building in areas such as sustainable development, trade-related issues, and micro, small and medium enterprises.
“The EU has been one of the biggest sources of foreign investment in the Philippines, with foreign direct investment reaching $64 million and approved investment reaching $13.4 billion by 2023,” he said.
“However, there is still a lot of potential to be explored not only in commodity market access but also in services and investment, and other areas such as innovation, digital trade, and energy,” he added.
Under the ARISE Plus project, the Philippines has been the recipient of programs and activities, said Mr. Gepty.
“The EU’s commitment to this project underlines the strong and lasting relationship between our regions,” he said.
“The ARISE Plus project is one of the key elements in our efforts to promote inclusive economic growth and improve the international trade performance and competitiveness of the Philippines,” he added.
Mr. Dupuis said the two parties made good progress in the first round of FTA negotiations in October. EU-Philippines FTA negotiations have been stalled since 2017.
“In our eyes, from the EU side, we think it was a very good round, a very good round. We have made good progress in this regard. We have good momentum in these discussions,” he said.
“We are looking forward to the second round in February, which will be held here in Manila. I think that’s all we can say. It is in the early stages of negotiations, but so far it has been a very good dialogue with the Philippines,” he added.
According to Mr. Gepty, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. he said the ultimate goal is to complete the EU-Philippines FTA negotiations by 2027.
Philippine negotiators have set a goal of concluding negotiations by early 2026 to ensure there is no gap in trade rights once the Philippines graduates to the upper middle income level.
The Philippines participates in the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which is a special incentive program for low- and low-income countries. It offers zero duties on 6,274 Philippine-made products.
“We know very well that from the time the Philippines graduates to a middle-income country, there will be another three years of transition, and then the GSP Plus benefits will go away,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we all want to do this as quickly as possible, but it has to be good. We cannot, in our eyes, sacrifice quality for speed. Because the FTA will stay, and it should be good,” he added.
The two sides will hold a second round of talks on February 11-13, where they will discuss about 20 chapters, according to Mr. Dupuis.
He said the quality of an FTA is one that “provides real new market access on both sides, stable rules, and stability at its core.”
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