THE Philippines has submitted its request to the World Trade Organization to become an observer of an agreement that opens government procurement among WTO members.
Last week, Philippine Ambassador to the WTO Manuel A.J. Teehankee delivered to WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo Manila’s request to become an observer of the Agreement on Government Procurement. The GPA is a plurilateral deal that liberalizes government procurement markets among its parties.
The Philippine request for observer status will be raised by the Committee on Government Procurement at its next formal meeting on June 26.
If its request is approved, the Philippines will be able to take part in relevant committee discussions, gain access to the committee’s working documents and become familiar with the operations and administration of the GPA. Observer status, however, is different from becoming a legal party to the procurement deal.
With an observer status, Teehankee said the country eyes to gain a better understanding of the GPA and further promote the efficient and effective management of public resources and good governance in Philippine procurement systems.
According to the WTO, the GPA at present has 20 parties comprising 48 members. Another 32 WTO members participate in the Committee on Government Procurement as observers, of which nine are in the process of acceding to the GPA.
As a result of several rounds of negotiations, the GPA parties have liberalized procurement activities amounting to an estimated $1.7 trillion annually to international competition, particularly to suppliers from GPA parties offering goods, services or construction services.
In its trade policy review last year, the Philippines was told by the European Union, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States to harmonize its procurement regime with multilateral trading rules by acceding to the GPA. They argued that doing so will boost the government’s infrastructure program, as it will open the doors to more bidders from GPA parties.
In Southeast Asia only Singapore is a party to the procurement deal, while Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are under observer status.