US urges RP to forge free trade pact with Washington

US Assistant Trade Representative Barbara Weisel urged the Philippines yesterday to sign a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington to boost its under-performing economy and keep it globally competitive.

Weisel said a newly completed study by the Hawaii-based East-West Center think tank found that for the Philippines, "there would be a benefit of a 3.1 percent increase in nominal GDP (gross domestic product)" if such a pact were signed with its largest trading partner.

She said the Philippine government is also conducting a parallel study.

The negotiation process, however, is expected to take more time because sensitive issues are still being discussed in order to ensure that each country’s interests are protected.

"We’re ready when you’re ready," she said during a short press conference in Makati City yesterday morning.

The Philippine economy expanded at an eight-year high of 6.1 percent in 2004 but it lags many of its neighbors in both growth and foreign direct investment.

Weisel said an FTA with the United States, the world’s biggest economy, would allow a partner country to stay globally competitive.

"Countries around the world are liberalizing and it is important that as this decision is considered by the Philippines government, that the importance of maintaining its relative competitiveness not just in the region but globally is carefully considered," she told a news conference.

Washington hopes to further open up its former colony’s economy particularly in the areas of services and investment.

"The areas often raised are financial services as well as telecommunications," Weisel said. "It is in those areas that both sides stand to gain."

The United States has already signed an FTA with Singapore and is in the early stage of negotiating a similar agreement with Thailand under President George W. Bush’s "Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative."

Bush offered to negotiate an FTA with ASEAN member countries with which the US has a trade investment framework agreement (TIFA) and which are members of the World Trade Organization.

Weisel said the US has TIFA accords with other ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

ASEAN also includes Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Philippines is in bilateral FTA talks with Japan, its No. 2 trading partner, while both Japan and China have committed to have free trade areas with the ASEAN as a group.

Weisel said US FTA standards are "higher and the process is more difficult" and involves a commitment to "structural reforms and liberalization to ensure that the FTA really achieves the results that are intended."

For the Philippines, this includes a commitment to stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights, she said.

"We are willing to take the time that is necessary to conclude an agreement," she said, adding that the two sides do not have a timetable for negotiating an FTA at this stage.

The US government, Weisel explained, is not giving the Philippines a deadline but will wait for the time when the Philippines is ready and "would want to move forward."

She said the FTA seeks to tie the US and the Philippines’ futures together with common goals, thereby giving each other better economic opportunities. — AFP, Michael Punongbayan