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Marcos calls for PH-EU free trade agreement

Philippines | National

Marcos calls for PH-EU free trade agreement

By Joseph Pedrajas

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday urged the European Union (EU) to work on the materialization of the Philippine-EU free trade agreement (FTA) as he said the Western bloc is missing some business opportunities that other Asian nations enjoy with the country.

In his speech at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-EU Commemorative Summit in Belgium, Marcos said he looks forward to a closer economic cooperation not only between the two regional blocs but also between the EU and the Philippines.

“I hope to see the proposed PH-EU free trade agreement move beyond scoping negotiations soon,” Marcos, the current coordinator of the two regional blocs, said

The President made the call as he believed the EU is missing “out on the benefit of having a similar agreement with ASEAN” as some countries in the Asia-Pacific regions have already developed regional economic partnership.

“We encourage the EU to calibrate the scope and coverage of its proposed FTA to what is currently possible for ASEAN to collectively agree on,” he said.

That way, “we can make concrete progress on negotiations on the ASEAN-EU FTA,” he added.

Related Tags

Bongbong Marcos ASEAN FTA brussels eu-asean fta European Union Philippines

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