TRADE Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is committed to ratifying Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is being awaited by investors.
“President Marcos is committed to have this (RCEP) ratified,” Pascual said in a radio interview on Wednesday.
Later on Wednesday, Senate leaders said during plenary discussions that they will give priority to tackling the trade deal as soon as it is formally endorsed to them by the Executive, with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri noting that the Philippines is the only one in the region that has not acceded to it.
In underscoring the importance of ratifying the regional trade pact, Pascual noted that prospective investors consider the Philippines’s accession to the trade deal before investing in the country.
“Our Senate needs to ratify this now because it is always raised in forums of economic ministers,” Pascual said, including the ones he attended in September.
RCEP, he said, plays a vital role in luring investors who wish to set up factories or plants for products meant to be exported to countries that are members of the regional trade deal.
“Those investing here are asking when RCEP will be ratified because, when they set up factories here and they produce things meant for the export market, they would want to export to countries that are RCEP member,” Pascual said, partly in Filipino.
The Trade chief also said that if the Philippines won’t ratify the regional trade deal, the country cannot take advantage of the reduction in tariffs, which he said will pave the way for the country to export to other countries and be on a par with exported goods of other countries in the global arena.
“If the Philippines is not a member, it cannot get the reduction in tariff” that allows it so sell at competitive levels in the export market, said Pascual.
He has also assured the local agriculture sector that the “critical” agricultural products would be shielded from the importation of goods once the RCEP gets the Senate nod.
While acknowledging concern that it might adversely impact the farm sector, Pascual said there is consensus not to touch tariffs, as some sectors fear that with ratification, the country will be flooded with agricultural products from RCEP member-countries.
The Trade chief said it is important for the “industrial products” which are being produced in the Philippines to be competitive with goods offered by other exporting countries in the global arena. He stressed that RCEP will also benefit both domestic and foreign investors in the country by giving them wider market access.
RCEP is a free-trade agreement among Asean countries and their trading partners Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Touted as the world’s largest trade pact, RCEP represents 30 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) or $26.2 trillion.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Wednesday, DTI expressed a positive outlook toward the Food Philippines Pavilion during the 5th China International Import Expo (CIIE) held on November 6 in Shanghai, China.
The Philippines’s participation in this year’s expo provides an “opportunity to expand the market access of Filipino products and further solidify trade relations between the Philippines and China.”
“Our participation in the CIIE has become not only a practical response to an opportunity but an imperative to expand our international market, and solidify the Philippines’s reputation as a reliable sourcing destination for food”, Pascual said in a statement on Wednesday.