Asean adopts moratorium on FTAs

The Philippines, as member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will not be taking part in any more trade talks except those that are already under negotiations.

The ASEAN is now engaged in regional talks with Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, European Union and China for the facilitation of trade in goods, services and investments.

In a press conference, Trade Assistant Secretary Ramon Vicente Cabigting said the ASEAN recently agreed to impose a moratorium on negotiations for new free trade agreements (FTAs) aside from these countries.

“The economic task force met recently. They agreed on a moratorium. They agreed to finish everything that’s on the table first,” Cabigting said in Filipino.

When asked when all the pending FTAs will be completed, Cabigting said “everybody is aiming for this year.”

The ASEAN-Japan FTA, which is on top of the Philippines’ own FTA with Japan, is already falling into place. Cabigting said there is a “great chance that it will be finished soon.”

“There will be substantive negotiations by the end of the year. We will finalize the investment, services and economic agreement chapter because the texts are agreeable to both groups give or take a few adjustments,” Cabigting said.

“The conditions look bearable to each other. We will finish a good chunk,” he explained further.

In fact, for the trade in goods section, Cabigting said all the countries except for two have already given Japan their final request last Friday. He refused to name the two hold outs saying only that a country was delayed because of bureaucracy given the large number of FTAs it is dealing with.

The ASEAN-Japan FTA is a single undertaking meaning all the components must be ironed out first before it can be implemented.

The ASEAN-Australia, New Zealand FTA is likewise a single undertaking. In an attempt to expedite the negotiations, a representative from the two countries will join the ASEAN economic ministers for its meeting to be held in Manila this week. Cabigting said the official from Australia and New Zealand will answer questions on modalities.

Meanwhile, some chapters of the FTA between the ASEAN and China are already being implemented as the agreement is a staged undertaking.

The ASEAN and China have already signed the trade in goods and the trade in services. First to be implemented was the trade in goods followed by the trade in services. Cabigting underscored the tremendous opportunity in the opening of the trade in services.

“It’s the big business now. We can provide land transportation and auxiliary services,” he noted.

The investment component of the FTA is currently under negotiations.

With regards to the ASEAN-Korea FTA, the trade in goods components is already in the implementing stage. The negotiations for the services component, Cabigting said is likely to be completed by the end of the year.