GMA backs Roxas call for RP exit from Cairns Group

President Arroyo expressed yesterday her "wholehearted" support for the stand of Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II for the Philippines to get out of the Cairns Group.

The Chief Executive, however, sidestepped questions on whether she also supports the views of Roxas for the Philippines to sever its membership from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-World Trade Organization (GATT-WTO).

"I cannot comment on that because I have not heard it from Mar himself," President Arroyo told Palace reporters in her weekly informal press conference at Malacañang.

Mrs. Arroyo, it will be recalled, was the principal author and sponsor when she was still a Senator, of the ratification by the Senate in 1995 of the GATT-WTO which paved the way for the membership of the Philippines in this global free trade body.

The President though said she agrees with the views recently expressed by the DTI Secretary, who is one of her economic advisers, for the Philippines to get out of the Cairns Group.

The President, herself an economist, echoed the sentiments of Roxas that the Philippines has valid reasons to get out of the Cairns Group because the country’s interest as a developing agricultural country is obviously not being served by this specialized international lobby group largely consisting of countries with advanced agricultural economies.

"What I heard from Mar is that we should re-think our membership in that Cairns Group which I agreed wholeheartedly," President Arroyo said.

"In fact, we are re-thinking it because as I said not all agricultural countries have the same interest with advanced agricultural countries from the developing agricultural countries," the President pointed out.

In recommending for the Philippines to get out of the Cairns, Roxas said that the country has not gotten the support of this lobby group to allow tariff-free entry of Philippine tuna in European markets while other countries enjoy such zero tariff privileges.

Roxas similarly cited the lack of WTO pressure, the Philippines being one of its founding members, into pressuring these European economies to remove this discriminatory practice of charging 24-percent tariff of Philippine tuna.

The President, it will be recalled, sent Roxas to WTO-Round held last year at Doha, Qatar, to present these Philippine concerns.