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THE
Department of Agriculture (DA) will push for the
resolution of Manila’s trade row with Canberra over the
access of Philippine fresh fruits, particularly bananas,
to Australia.
Agriculture Secretary C. Arthur Yap, who will accompany
the President during her May 30 and 31 visit, said he
would take up with Australian farm officials an array of
measures to dismantle trade barriers that block the
entry of local fresh bananas, pineapples and mangoes.
“We hope
to correct this lopsided level of trade with Australia
during the President’s state visit,” said Yap.
Once the
trade issue with
Canberra
is resolved, the DA chief said the Philippines can
export 10 million cartons of fresh bananas annually.
The
Philippines continues to await the release of the import
risk analysis (IRA) on local bananas which would
effectively allow the entry of the produce to Australia
if the IRA is positive. The government has been waiting
for the release of the IRA for more than a decade now.
Manila
has already filed a complaint against
Canberra before the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is seeking
the WTO’s creation of a dispute settlement panel to
resolve the trade issue.
“On top
of dismantling trade barriers, we will also discuss with
Australian officials the possibility of their
bankrolling high-impact infrastructure projects in
support of the agriculture and fisheries sector under
the new Philippine-Australia Development Assistance
Strategy for 2007-11 during President Arroyo’s state
visit,” said Yap.
He said
that during the Philippine-Australia Ministerial Meeting
(PAMM) involving senior officials in October last year,
Australia proposed the creation of an
Australia-Philippines Agriculture Forum as a bilateral
consultative body to strengthen cooperation and promote
investments in the agriculture and food sector between
the two countries.
The
Philippines is set to host the Second PAMM either during
the last quarter of 2007 or the first quarter of 2008.
While
banana producers are having a hard time exporting their
produce to Australia, Yap said Canberra continues to
provide assistance to Manila in clearing the way to the
entry of Philippine mangoes. Given the opportunity, the
Philippines can export about a million tons of mangoes
in three to five years.
Australia,
for one, has funded a mango survey in Davao del Sur and
is planning to mount a similar study in Saranggani.
In 2003
Australian Prime Minister John Howard committed to
extend assistance to Philippine agriculture in the areas
of foot-and-mouth disease eradication, research projects
in the tropical fruit sector, and technical aid for the
mango industry. |
