RP seeks more exports, labor deployment to Japan under JPEPA

TOKYO — Talks to expand the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) are already underway to increase the deployment of Filipino workers and the export of more Philippine products, six months after the free trade agreement took effect, President Arroyo said yesterday.

Mrs. Arroyo pointed out the JPEPA is the “most advanced” economic partnership that Japan has with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China and South Korea during an interview with Filipino and Japanese journalists here.

She also bared government plans to tap as much official development assistance (ODA) from the Japanese government to fund programs that would make Philippine products entering Japan under JPEPA more competitive.

The President said there are negotiations between both sides on the provision on the “movement of natural persons” in the JPEPA that would not only include nurses and caregivers, but also other professionals as well.

“This is all under the provision of movement of natural persons,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “There are now ongoing talks between the two sides on how to expand this. I believe that after nurses and caregivers, soon we will have English teachers and IT workers.”

At present, 283 Filipino nurses and caregivers are undergoing language training in Japan prior to their employment.

Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, who accompanied Mrs. Arroyo in her four-day official visit here, told The STAR he held talks with some Japanese officials and Japanese Ambassador to Manila Makoto Katsura last week as part of the meetings of the subcommittee on the implementation of the JPEPA.

He said the meeting discussed the implementation of the “schedules of commitment” and increasing the quotas for Filipino professionals and products to Japan.

“We want to take full advantage of the JPEPA for us in terms of higher export quotas and the like,” Favila said.

Mrs. Arroyo said the country should also expand other opportunities provided by the JPEPA framework in trade, investments and tourism.

She said her mission to Japan is to help local private sector get business in Japan as while JPEPA provides the framework, it is the companies that does the trading.

“We want ODA to assist in the full and efficient implementation of JPEPA,” the President said. “We would like to see technical assistance to make our products, which are beneficiaries of JPEPA, more competitive in the Japanese market.”

“There’ll be more fruits and agricultural products coming into Japan so we want to make sure they will be able to easily comply with the very strict sanitary standards and phyto-sanitary standards of Japan. So we hope ODA can help us to do that,” she said.

TOKYO — Talks to expand the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) are already underway to increase the deployment of Filipino workers and the export of more Philippine products, six months after the free trade agreement took effect, President Arroyo said yesterday.

Mrs. Arroyo pointed out the JPEPA is the “most advanced” economic partnership that Japan has with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China and South Korea during an interview with Filipino and Japanese journalists here.

She also bared government plans to tap as much official development assistance (ODA) from the Japanese government to fund programs that would make Philippine products entering Japan under JPEPA more competitive.

The President said there are negotiations between both sides on the provision on the “movement of natural persons” in the JPEPA that would not only include nurses and caregivers, but also other professionals as well.

“This is all under the provision of movement of natural persons,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “There are now ongoing talks between the two sides on how to expand this. I believe that after nurses and caregivers, soon we will have English teachers and IT workers.”

At present, 283 Filipino nurses and caregivers are undergoing language training in Japan prior to their employment.

Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, who accompanied Mrs. Arroyo in her four-day official visit here, told The STAR he held talks with some Japanese officials and Japanese Ambassador to Manila Makoto Katsura last week as part of the meetings of the subcommittee on the implementation of the JPEPA.

He said the meeting discussed the implementation of the “schedules of commitment” and increasing the quotas for Filipino professionals and products to Japan.

“We want to take full advantage of the JPEPA for us in terms of higher export quotas and the like,” Favila said.

Mrs. Arroyo said the country should also expand other opportunities provided by the JPEPA framework in trade, investments and tourism.

She said her mission to Japan is to help local private sector get business in Japan as while JPEPA provides the framework, it is the companies that does the trading.

“We want ODA to assist in the full and efficient implementation of JPEPA,” the President said. “We would like to see technical assistance to make our products, which are beneficiaries of JPEPA, more competitive in the Japanese market.”

“There’ll be more fruits and agricultural products coming into Japan so we want to make sure they will be able to easily comply with the very strict sanitary standards and phyto-sanitary standards of Japan. So we hope ODA can help us to do that,” she said. –Paolo S. Romero, Philippine Star