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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Marcos seeks better trade ties with South Korea

Marcos seeks better trade ties with South Korea

Published May 3, 2024 09:40 am

At A Glance

  • Marcos said the Philippines is already working with South Korea on a separate agreement with better terms regarding the entry of Filipino products into their market.

President Marcos said the Philippines' trade links with South Korea were important and that Manila is seeking to forge an agreement with Seoul to encourage the East Asian country to allow some Filipino products to have duty-free access to its market.

President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)
President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)

Marcos said this as he met the Maekyung Media Group, a South Korean business newspaper, for an interview in Malacanan on Thursday, May 2.

According to the President, the Philippines is already working with South Korea on a separate agreement with better terms regarding the entry of Filipino products into their market.

"We are negotiating a separate future agreement with the Republic of Korea to encourage them to allow some of our products to be included in the reduced tariff products. We also hope that we can negotiate with South Korea better terms," he said.

"There are many areas, the semiconductor, the automotive parts. Fruits, we’re already exporting many great fruits to Korea," he added, citing tropical fruits like avocados could have reduced tariff rates in South Korea.

While the relationship between the Philippines and South Korea was already robust, Marcos said increasing exchanges would benefit both countries.

"The relationship between our two countries has been ongoing for 75 years now, and this has been a very important partnership for the Philippines, and I think, also for the Republic of South Korea," he said.

"What we are now trying to do is to promote the partnerships that we have begun in the past so that the exchange between our two countries will increase and will be mutually beneficial to both the Republic of Korea and the Republic of the Philippines," he added.

Even though South Korea's national assembly has yet to approve it, the President is optimistic that the free trade agreement (FTA) signed by the two countries will be ratified this year.

He said the FTA could give Philippine products reduced tariff rates in the Korean market.

"I think so. I think we will get it done. I think we will get it ratified...it’s important to us" Marcos said.

An FTA is a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports. 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.

Related Tags

Bongbong Marcos PH-South Korea Free Trade Agreement President Marcos
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