Phl, European free trade group set talks

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) are set to hold this month the first round of meetings for a planned free trade agreement (FTA) in line with the aim to start negotiations by next year.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. told reporters he is leading a delegation to Geneva to conduct the first round of meetings on a possible FTA with EFTA which groups Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

The delegation composed of representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture, National Economic and Development Authority as well as the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines left the country during the weekend.

 “We’re at the end of the year. We’re hoping…we can start negotiations next year. That means, we’ll have to close the scoping by first quarter of next year,” Cristobal said.

Earlier, he said the target is to conclude scoping exercises this year to be able to start negotiations by early next year and complete the deal by 2017.

Apart from the meetings with the EFTA, the delegation will also be holding discussions with the World Trade Organization on the Bali package agreement last year as well as other disputes filed by the Philippines.

Cristobal said that following the trip to Geneva, the delegation will head to Brussels to meet with the European Union (EU)  trade negotiators.

 “We are not having negotiations yet. This is a meeting to discuss parameters of the FTA with the EU,” he said.

The government will also be pushing for the country’s application to the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) during the meeting in Brussels.

If the Philippines qualifies for EU GSP+ status, the country’s exports to the region are expected to rise as more products are allowed to enter the bloc at zero duty under the scheme.

At present, the Philippines is a beneficiary of the regular GSP, which covers 6,209 products, with 2,442 products subject to zero duty and the rest slapped with lower tariffs.

The EU GSP+ covers 6,274 products which can enter the EU at zero duty.

Based on initial estimates of the DTI,  the GSP+ could increase Philippine exports to the EU by 611.8 million euros, representing an 11.96 percent increase from the country’s outbound shipments to the bloc in 2012.