"An EU-Philippines FTA can be a powerful catalyst for change"
Ambassador Jessen described the Philippine and EU economy as going strong.
The Philippines’ Development Plan from 2017 to 2022 has projected a GDP growth to strengthen at 7 to 8 percent in the medium term with growth expected to be more inclusive and where overall poverty rate is expected to decline from 21.6% to 14%. Meanwhile, the EU is the largest economy in the world with a GDP per head of €33 000 for its 500 million consumers. It is the world’s largest trading block, the world’s largest trader of manufactured goods and services and ranks first in both inbound and outbound international investments.
Ambassador Jessen said that the EU-Philippine trade in good was almost € 13 billion in 2015. In terms of total trade, he said, the EU is the fourth largest trading partner for the Philippines and is the Philippines’ third export partner, after Japan and the US. He said that the EU is the second largest service partner and the first investor in the Philippines.
Ambassador Jessen further reported that the EU provided 37% of all new reported investments in the Philippines in 2015, an increase of 80% compared to its year ago level with most of the FDI invested in manufacturing, business process outsourcing which represented an estimated half a million jobs.
“These changes are a reflection of the trends we are observing in the ASEAN level as the EU is ASEAN’s second largest trading partner and the largest source of FDI”.
The EU Ambassador, however noted, that when comparing EU-Philippine trade to bilateral levels between the Philippines’ other ASEAN counterparts, the Philippines is still lagging behind, but has a lot of potential to catch up with its neighbors.
Ambassador Jessen therefore pressed to hasten the Free Trade Agreement negotiations by creating the best possible enabling environment.
“We need an ambitious FTA to make EU-Philippine trade grow stronger and to work together on market access”, he said.
“I believe that an EU-Philippine FTA can be a powerful catalyst for change that will boost the competitiveness of the Philippine economy”.
According to Ambassador Jessen, these changes should happen within the context of stronger EU-ASEAN relations adding that this point is particularly relevant as the Philippines is Chair of ASEAN this year.
“The EU is committed to deepening economic relations both with individual ASEAN member states and with ASEAN as a whole”.
He said: “Stronger integration between ASEAN members and between ASEAN and the EU will ensure benefits of increased trade and connectivity are spread even wider. The EU is also pursuing a region-to-region trade deals with ASEAN”.