President Marcos is expecting that the Philippines and South Korea would ratify their free trade agreement (FTA) this year.
Although the FTA has been signed between the two countries, South Korea’s National Assembly is yet to ratify the trade pact.
“I think so. I think we will get it done. I think we will get it ratified ...it’s important to us,” President Marcos said in an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper Chairman and Publisher Chang Dae-Whan in Malacañan.
“I think one of the lessons we learned during the pandemic, and now after the pandemic is how important trade is, not just to be wealthy, but to be, to have the things that you need, that your people need. So, that’s always the key for us and no country succeeded by cutting itself off,” he said.
Marcos pointed out that the FTA could give Philippine products reduced tariff rates in the Korean market.
The FTA is a pact between two or more nations meant to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them.
Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies, or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange.
Citing the Philippines’ importance and the business opportunities, the President said other countries partnering with the Philippines “treat us a very, very important part of all that they do.”
He further said that the Philippines wants a separate future agreement with South Korea to encourage the East Asian country to allow some of its products to have duty-free access to the South Korea market.
“We are negotiating a separate future agreement with the Republic of Korea is to encourage them to, perhaps take some, to allow some of our products to be included in the reduced tariff products, and also we hope that we can negotiate with Korea, with South Korea better terms and we get on [the] ASEAN-Republic of Korea FTA,” Marcos said.
“But this is natural, this is not, I think all the other ASEAN countries have the same thinking. So, there are many areas, the semiconductor, the automotive parts, that’s one area. Fruits, we’re already exporting great many fruits to Korea," he added.
The Chief Executive cited tropical fruits like avocados that South Korea included on its list of products that could have reduced tariff rates, as he anticipates more Philippine products would be included on the list.