RP finds ally in effort to push tuna exports to Europe

The Philippines has found an ally in its dispute with the European Union over the country’s tuna exports, which are being subjected to higher tariffs compared to competitors from other Pacific Island nations.

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Monetayor said Risto Volanen, the secretary general of the Committee on Agricultural Cooperation in the EU who is in town for the two-day 4th Asian Farmers Group for Cooperation (AFGC) meeting in Ortigas vowed to help the Philippines with its tuna trade problems in the European market.

Philippine tuna is being slapped a duty of 24 percent while those coming from other Pacific Island nations are charged zero to four-percent tariff only.

While the Philippines exports the bulk of its tuna products to Japan and other Asian markets. It also trades a big volume to Europe, which is also being supplied by other nations in the Pacific Ocean.

Montemayor opened the two-day AFGC meeting at the Galleria Suites, where he reported the special importance given by the Philippines to special and differential (SND) treatment principle enunciated at the WTO Ministerial Meeting last November in Doha, Qatar.

He said developed countries – to ensure that developing countries are able to enjoy the benefits of fair trade – should afford developing countries SND treatment because of their limitations in infrastructure and competitiveness.

He said giving the SND treatment to developing countries was discussed in the Doha conference and which will be taken up in ongoing round of negotiations.

He also cited the need for developing countries and their farmers – members of the AFGC – link together for their development cooperation and capacity building endeavors. "This way we will increase the farmers’ organization to derive more benefits from free and fair trade," Montemayor said.

Montemayor also emphasized the importance given by the DA and the Philippine government on stakeholder participation, which maximizes the participation of small farmers.

Another speaker at AFGC, DA Assistance Secretary for Planning Segfredo Serrano said the trade distortions that continue to plague WTO are attributed to protection and support structures of developed countries.

As a major SND measure, the current negotiations in agriculture should first address and obtain satisfactory reform commitments from the developed countries in domestic support and export competition measures before any negotiations on market access, Serrano said.

He said the previous Philippine proposal for developing country markets access commitments to be proportional to the domestic support and export competition reform commitments of developed countries is "inadequate and inert." The basic SND modality has got to be sequential rather than continuous.

"Despite what appear to be encouraging language in the Doha Declaration, most particularly the comprehensive nature with which SND is mandated to be integrated in all the pillars and areas of negotiations, there is real danger that SND may again be sidelined through the dilution of this mandate in the actual outcomes of the negotiations," Serrano said.

Many developing countries have prioritized domestic support and export competition measures over market access in the ongoing agriculture negotiations and it is apparent from the pattern of proposal submissions of the developed countries that their profiles lie with market access, Serrano said.