More RP goods in US GSP list pushed

President Arroyo will lobby for the inclusion and reinstatement of several Philippine agricultural products in the next cycle of the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday.

Among these products, he said, are dried mangoes, pineapple juice, carrageenan and tuna.

Roxas said the President will follow up the request earlier made during her November 2001 US state visit wherein the Bush administration pledged to work with the US Congress to grant the GSP benefits to the Philippines.

President Arroyo is scheduled to go on another state visit to the US on May 19 to 22.

Prior to the US trip, the Philippines earlier reiterated its GSP petitions during the RP-US Trade and Investment Council meeting held last month.

Roxas said the approval of the request would be a concrete delivery of the US commitment to provide the Philippines with over $1 billion in GSP benefits.

The GSP is a scheme that gives preferential tariff or duty-free treatment to approximately 4,100 products from 139 beneficiary countries, including the Philippines. In 2001, total GSP imports from the Philippines amounted to $676 million.

The GSP imports, Roxas said, "contributed to the Philippine economy by way of attracting foreign investors, providing quality employment opportunities and contributing to foreign exchange generation."