FTAs should be fair to local products, enterprises — DTI

The country’s chief negotiator for international free trade agreements, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Allan Gepty stressed that notwithstanding the government’s capabilities in bringing in foreign goods and services, a balance should be struck in current Philippines laws so that domestic players are not disadvantaged.

“We make sure that our trade agreements do not violate the Constitution and our state policies. We also conduct consultations and engage various sectors and stakeholders to determine which industries in the country must be protected,” said Gepty in an interview with the DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show, Straight Talk.

Protection for industries

“Of course, we want to encourage more industries to be established here in the country, but again, we have to assure that our industries doing business and operations here in the country and even abroad must receive protection. We also take into account plans and programs of the government as far as attracting investments is concerned,” he added.

Gepty said in making commitments, the government considers such plans and programs as when it comes to tariff protection, they make sure that tariff rates for the Philippine products are excluded and make sure that those are imposed in phases.

“We also want to assure the welfare of our agriculture sector, the farmers. In our free trade agreements, our sensitive agricultural products are excluded, meaning we do not commit that their tariff rates would be reduced,” he said.

Opportunities for the Philippines

Also, Gepty said they evaluate what would be the opportunities for the Philippines here and other economies “because as far as our perspective is concerned, we are not just looking at the potential of the export of our goods.”

“We also take into account the possibility of our investors, meaning Philippine companies, going outside, or locating and branching out in other countries. We want to enable a good business environment for our professionals and service suppliers in providing their services to other countries, so we make sure that there is market access for them,” according to Gepty.

To date, Gepty said the Philippines is enjoying 10 FTAs, namely the two bilateral trade agreements — one with Japan, the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the Philippine-European Free Trade Association Agreement, with Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland.

The third one is the recently ratified Philippine-Korean FTA by the Senate, which is not yet effective as its ratification by the South Korean Parliament is awaited by the Philippine government.

Next round of negotiations

Gepty said the government is preparing for the next round of negotiations regarding the Philippines-EU Free Trade Agreement as the country wants to tap export opportunities in the European Union (EU) market worth $8.3 billion.

He said the resumption of formal FTA talks with EU has been “very positive and constructive”, with the Philippines and the EU making “good progress in the first round of negotiations.”

The senior trade official said the next round of discussions will be held in the country in February 2025, followed by the third round in June, and the fourth in October 2025.