The Philippines and the European Union (EU) will resume talks on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)—a deal seen to bolster economic ties between the two sides—as EU chief Ursula von der Leyen made an historic visit to the country to "accelerate" areas of cooperation between Manila and the regional bloc.
Top of von der Leyen's priorities is to take trade relations between the Philippines and the EU "to the next level," she said in her speech on Monday after a bilateral meeting with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
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"The European Union is already your fourth largest trading partner, and we are the first foreign investor. But we can do so much more. So I'm very glad that we have decided to relaunch negotiations for free trade agreement," she said.
According to her, teams from both sides will start working on setting the right conditions so that the Philippines and the EU can get the FTA talks rolling.
An FTA is an agreement between two or more countries on certain obligations affecting trade in goods and services, and protections for investors and intellectual property rights, among others.
"A Free Trade Agreement has huge potential for both of us in terms of growth and in terms of jobs," she said.
Von der Leyen said the world already "learned the hard way" in terms of economic dependencies. So, she added, "we need to diversify our supply lines and make them resilient."
"This is a lesson we have learned and that is what we call 'derisking' our trade relations," she said.
"An FTA is the basis for that. But it's also much more. An FTA can be a springboard for a new technology cooperation to modernize the broader economy," she added.
Von der Leyen was the first European Commission president to come to Manila in about sixty years of the country's diplomatic relations with the EU. She was staying from July 31 to August 1.
In May 2023, Marcos raised the need for an FTA with the EU as it would be a "win-win strategy" for both sides.
"It promises to achieve mutually beneficial economic goals while maintaining consistency with the EU's core ideals of sustainable development and environment protection, as well as with EU's Indo-Pacific strategy," the President said.
Marcos, by then, encouraged members of the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) to actively advocate for the resumption of negotiations for a bilateral FTA and to strive for fair treatment and beneficial reciprocity.
"As credible voices of the European business community in the Philippines and the region, EU-ABC and ECCP can help move this thing forward all the way to a favorable conclusion," he said.
According to the recent information from Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the following are the proposed chapters of the Philippines-EU FTA:
• Trade in Goods
• Rules of Origin
• Customs and Trade Facilitation
• Trade in Services
• Investments
• Government Procurement
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Competition
• Trade and Sustainable Development
• Legal and Institutional Issues