Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez and I led a Philippine delegation to the European Union (EU) in Brussels, Belgium last week.
We had extensive discussions with EU officials on a range of concerns from the drug war, to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, to Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) and the free trade agreement (FTA), to President Duterte’s invitation to the United Nations Human Rights Council and EU Subcommittee on Human Rights to open in Manila a human-rights monitoring center, to EU request to allow Senator Leila M. de Lima to attend Senate sessions and exercise her parliamentary duties when the Senate is in session.
We met with the EU commissioner of trade (equivalent to minister of trade), members of EU parliament (MEP) chairing Southeast Asia, the Committee on Human Rights, the Committee on Trade in charge of GSP+ and FTA, the committee in charge of Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) on grants, and the head of the EU Commission Secretariat.
The meetings were all generally pleasant, open and civil. All praised the Philippines’s openness to dialogue and warmly welcomed Duterte’s initiative allowing the setting up in Manila of a monitoring center and his invitation to President Donald J. Trump to attend the Leader’s Summit in Manila in November.
The human-rights issue needs to be confronted head on because it is inextricably linked to and cannot be separated from our trade relations with the EU. Philippine exports to the EU already amounted to €6.2 billion, or P317 billion, in 2016. Up to €213 million, or P12.7 billion, fall under the GSP+, a privilege the EU granted to the Philippines in
December 2014.
Under the GSP+, the Philippines can export to the EU at zero-tariff up to 6,200 products, including our most prized exports, like fruits, coconut oil, fish and textiles. The Philippines became eligible and the EU accorded us the special preferential trade deal given that the Philippines had ratified and implemented various international conventions on human rights and labor rights, the environment and good governance. The main beneficiaries include entrepreneurs from Mindanao exporting tuna and fish products to the EU.
The President’s initiative and the visit of a high-level delegation possibly turned the once frosty relations and, sometimes, angry exchanges to a new and cooperative mood. “Let’s continue to engage each other,” “How can we help?” were expressions often uttered by key EU executives.
I believe strongly we should take aggressive measures to seize the changing political atmosphere: a more unified action in diplomacy and trade, a proactive Senate participation, and a more enlightening and less combative messaging.
The EU can be one of our most effective partners in peace making and development in Mindanao.
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