Roxas urges WTO to understand RP’s plight

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II is urging members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to recognize the difficulty faced by developing-member countries such as the Philippines in implementing trade agreements.

Speaking before the two-day APEC meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT), Roxas expressed concern about the agenda being set for the next round of WTO multilateral trade negotiations.

The Philippines and other developing country members of the WTO, Roxas said, "face very real problems in implementing the agreements arising from the Uruguay Round."

"These problems, relate to the dislocations and adjustment gaps experienced by various sectors of the Philippine economy, resulting from the structural reforms undertaken to date," Roxas added.

Roxas said that without the recognition of the difficulties faced by developing member-countries and concrete action in the WTO, as well as in APEC, to address capacity building, "consensus on a new round would be hard to arrive at."

But even with such concern, Roxas said that if the majority of WTO members so decide, "the Philippines may have to go along with the launching of a new round because we cannot afford economic isolation."

Roxas disclosed that following the 1994 Uruguay Round, Philippine exports grew from only $11 billion in 1994 to $38 billion by the year 2000.

"While there are options outside the multilateral WTO system like the free trade set-up we have with ASEAN and possibly bilateral free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries, the reach of these FTAs is limited in comparison with WTO," Roxas said.