THE Philippines and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states have confirmed that the free trade agreement is “working well” and has no “critical implementation” issues to date, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
At the Inaugural Joint Committee Meeting hosted by EFTA Member States recently, the Philippines and the EFTA States “officially assessed” the implementation of the free trade agreement (FTA).
According to DTI, the Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) with the Philippines marks EFTA’s first engagement for this year. The meeting, DTI said, was co-chaired, on behalf of the EFTA Member States, by Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs Minister Karin Buechel and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo.
“Over the 5 years of implementation, both sides have confirmed that the FTA is working well and has no critical implementation issues to date. The preferential utilization rates for the Philippines and EFTA Member States were reported at 31 percent and 30 percent for 2020, respectively,” the DTI said in a statement on Monday.
With both sides “determined” to further improve their respective utilization rates, DTI said a “key highlight” of the meeting was the official preview of the PH-EFTA FTA online interactive web tool.
This web tool, DTI noted, will help Philippine and EFTA exporters maximize their preferences under the FTA.
“We are privileged to be the EFTA’s first recipient partner of this online web tool to promote the PH-EFTA FTA. This will really benefit the Philippines and EFTA business community,” Rodolfo said.
DTI said the Philippines and EFTA Member States had a “constructive dialogue” on trade and sustainable development, during which DTI highlighted Manila’s initiatives on the implementation of international labor and environmental conventions, including the Philippines’s domestic policies on freedom of association, gender equality, sustainable management of forests and climate change.
Rodolfo said this FTA “certainly promotes international trade while contributing to the objective of sustainable development, all the while ensuring that labor rights and environmental protection will not be sacrificed in the name of trade and investments.”
Prior to the convening of the Joint Committee, “the Sub-Committee on Trade in Goods [TIG] met to discuss the technical operationalization of the TIG Chapter of the FTA, including market access, customs, rules of origin, and trade facilitation,” said DTI.
The Philippine side was led by Bureau of International Trade Relations (BITR) Director Angelo Benedictos and the EFTA side was represented by Swiss Federal Office for Customs and Border Security Deputy Head Meinrad Muller, on behalf of the EFTA Member States, the DTI said.
EFTA Member states are Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The FTA entered into force on June 1, 2018. Since then, DTI said the Philippines was able to “turn around its perennial trade deficit” with EFTA. In 2019, the Philippines posted a trade surplus of US$47.12 million; further rising to US$101.49 million in 2020 and US$129.89 million in 2021 despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, with the FTA in place, in 2020, around EUR 24.84 million worth of Philippine agricultural and industrial products were able to enter the EFTA market with reduced or zero tariff rates.
These Philippine products, the agency noted, include tunas, desiccated coconuts, fruits and nuts, processed foods and other food preparations, pasta, malt products, vacuum cleaners, new pneumatic tires, and hairdressing apparatus.
On the investment front, DTI said Switzerland has been the country’s major partner in EFTA and a “regular” source of foreign investments in the European Region.
In fact, the DTI noted, from 2018 to the third quarter of 2022, (investment promotion agency) IPA-approved Swiss investments reached P1.40 billion (or US$25.865 million) in these sectors: manufacturing, real estate activities, administrative and support activities.
From 2018 to the second quarter of 2022, investments from Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein also amounted to P229.4 million (or US$ 4.23 million) in the country’s financial and insurance, manufacturing, administrative, transportation, and storage sectors, DTI noted.