Trade dept backs proposal for trade rep office
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila
Trade dept backs proposal for trade rep office
17 April 2008
MANILA, Philippines—A proposal to create an Office of the Philippine Trade Representative (OPTR) is being supported by the Department of Trade and Industry as a means to help strengthen the country’s capability to negotiate external trade.
“This will give due focus on the importance of trade negotiations,” Trade and Industry Undersecretary Thomas Aquino told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of a forum on free trade agreements (FTAs).
Aquino said the Bureau of International Trade Relations of the Department of Trade and Industry lacked manpower to meet increasing demands for negotiations on FTAs.
He said it was advisable to have a whole new office with bigger resources to take the lead in the country’s trade negotiation efforts.
Aquino said there were bills pending in Congress seeking to create an OPTR. He said the Department of Trade and Industry was pushing for immediate creation of the office.
He noted that in the United States the Office of the US Trade Representative actively pushes external trade positions in talks under the World Trade Organization and FTA negotiations.
“Given the burgeoning ASEAN FTAs, Philippine trade negotiators feel the pressure to cover simultaneous trade negotiations,” Aquino said in a speech delivered at the forum. “The Bureau of International Trade Relations is spread thin and the Cabinet-level Tariff and Related Matters finds it difficult to attend to the demands of the negotiations.”
