The European Union (EU) has committed to work with the Philippines for the success of negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement between the two sides.
Newly-appointed EU Ambassador to Manila Massimo Santoro made the promise on Wednesday, Sept. 25, as he presented his credentials to President Marcos at the Malacañan Palace.
"The European Union is eager to work for fruitful negotiations of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement in the context of already prosperous relations in the economic, trade and investment sectors," he said.
"Our cooperation projects in the fields of climate, energy, environment, digitalization, good governance, peace and human rights feature high on our partnership agenda," he added.
For his part, Marcos acknowledged the regional bloc's importance. He said EU "remains vital as we work together on shared priorities such as trade, climate action and development collaboration."
Marcos said he is looking forward to building on a Philippine-EU relationship through Santoro "in order to achieve even greater success for our people."
In July 2023, the Philippines and EU were expected to start the "scoping process" of the extent of the FTA.
According to EU, Manila and the 27-member regional bloc would "shortly kick off" the process bilaterally "to assess to which extent they share a mutual understanding on the future FTA."
"If this process concludes successfully, and after consultations with the Member States, the EU and the Philippines would be in a position to resume FTA negotiations," it said in a statement.