Study to consider free trade agreement
BusinessWorld, Manila
Study to consider free trade agreement
4 September 2012
By Emilia Narni J. David
The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has finished a study that will look into potential industries that will benefit from a potential free trade agreement with Europe and recommend a scope of such an agreement.
"The industries represented include environment, agricultural, fisheries, services and manufacturing," PIDS President Josef T. Yap said in an interview with reporters yesterday.
PIDS was commissioned by the Trade department to conduct a study for scoping exercises that will be conducted as part of the partnership and cooperation agreement between the European Union and the Philippines which were signed on July 11.
"These are background papers to support negotiations... these are some sectors where the Philippines should request for lower tariffs," Mr. Yap said.
There is no timeline yet for the scoping exercises.
Negotiations for the agreement began on Feb. 9, 2009.
This is the first agreement between the Philippines and Europe since 1980. The partnership agreement is considered the first step in a possible free trade agreement which will be negotiated after the former is enforced. The agreement will form the basis of a free trade agreement.
It creates a joint committee that will meet every two years to oversee implementation of the agreement.
Mr. Yap said there will be a public forum to present the findings of the study and will be seeking additional inputs for a second round of consultations with sectors although some civil society groups will see the report when PIDS presents it next month.
"The study is important because we need to look at the whole picture since not all sectors will have a positive impact with the agreement and we also need to address these," Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal said in an e-mail interview with BusinessWorld.
The European Union signed a partnership agreement with Vietnam on June 27. Indonesia became the first ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) country to sign a partnership agreement with the European Union in November 2009.
