THE Philippines and Chile are on track to conclude their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) this year, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.
“We had a very productive round of negotiations. It was a one-week negotiation. We are on track to conclude the CEPA this year, and have it signed and ratified as soon as possible,” DTI Undersecretary Allan Gepty said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday.
Gepty noted the importance of this comprehensive trade agreement as it contains elements like intellectual property, competition, services, investment, financial services, digital trade, trade remedies, customs procedures, and trade facilitation. It will also include a trade in goods chapter.
“This will be a big milestone for the Philippines as this will be its first CEPA with a Latin American country. This will expand our FTA (free trade area) network and will also support our direction to diversify markets and create opportunities for our businesses, and exporters,” Gepty said.
The trade official described the first round as “nothing contentious” which covered provisions on intellectual property; competition; trading goods; trade remedies; digital trade; and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). He said, without elaborating, that the provision on MSMEs is key as “that is our offensive interest.”
Opportunities for PH
Another key interest, he said, is services.
“We want to create more opportunities for our professionals, service providers, and also local companies, for them to venture into foreign markets like Chile. Chile needs people in the technical field like engineering and other professionals like accountants, bookkeepers, etc.,” Gepty said.
He added that the Philippines would like to encourage Chilean companies to locate in the country and use it as a hub to access not just Southeast Asia, but more importantly, the bigger region which is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Gepty said sectors of interest include mining like copper, since around 56 percent of Chile’s exports are minerals and 24 percent are food products such as wine, cherries, salmon, and the processed products of these agricultural crops.
Way forward
The next round of talks is scheduled in October, where the Philippines and Chile aim to “stabilize” the chapters under the agreement. The remaining months of the year will be dedicated to fine-tuning, after which both parties will proceed to legal scrubbing.
Gepty said negotiations on chapters like economic and technical cooperation are “not as tough compared to the other provisions in the other chapters.” He also does not see any hitches in negotiating trade remedies as countries usually align the provisions with those under the World Trade Organization.
However, he sees discussions on digital trade as noteworthy because of the evolving rules and disciplines that have to be factored in the negotiations.
He said competition is also a very important chapter because in a free trade area, “we want to make sure that we have a level playing field, and we want to make sure that businesses and investments are done properly in accordance with rules, and that we advocate fair competition.”
