JPEPA gets yearly review

MANILA, Philippines—A year after it has taken effect, the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) was reviewed here by both parties Friday as required by the treaty.

Both sides expressed “general satisfaction for the overall achievements under the JPEPA,” even as the year since its implementation was spent preparing the bodies that will fully implement the deal.

The treaty removes all tariffs on about 94 percent of bilateral trade by value and allows Filipino nurses and caregivers to work in Japan on a long-term basis, and came into force December 11, 2008 after much wrangling on how Philippine negotiators failed to come up with a better deal for the country.

On the Chapter on Movement of Natural Persons, the agreement caused the deployment of 313 Filipino nurses and caregivers to Japan between May and September 2009 for training and practice on language and skills, said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Edsel Custodio.

This chapter “was smoothly implemented…[The Filipino nurses and caregivers] will be of great help to the aging population of Japan,” Custodio said in a statement released after the yearly review of the treaty’s operation and implementation.

The Japanese side, headed by Ambassador for International Economic Affairs Shigeru Nakamura of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted the Philippines’ “satisfaction at the smooth implementation of Chapter 9 of the Agreement, on the Movement of Natural Persons.”

From its coming into force, five of the 12 subcommittees, as well as the nine working groups specified under the Chapter on Cooperation, have been convened, “significant and essential steps to put the provisions of the JPEPA in operation…Projects under the 10 areas of cooperation were (also) submitted for consideration,” Custodio said.

The five subcommittees that convened were those on trade in goods, trade in services, movement of natural persons, improvement of the business environment, and cooperation.

At the inaugural meeting of the JPEPA Joint Committee soon after the treaty’s entry into force, the operational procedures for trade in goods, rules of origin, and mutual recognition were adopted.

Custodio called JPEPA “a major pillar of our (Philippines and Japan’s) strategic partnership.” He said it will yield the “fruits of liberalization, increasing trade and investment, enhanced technical cooperation and capacity-building, improved flow of resources, services and people.”

Both sides agreed that the treaty’s implementation needs constant communication and consultations between the two countries.

“As with any trade agreement, the implementation of the JPEPA will require adjustments and constant open lines of communication and consultations between our two governments. Towards this end, the Philippines is committed to strengthening dialogue with Japan, both at the public and private sector levels,” Custodio said.

“Both countries will, in the coming months, continue to further promote, review, and assess the implementation of the JPEPA, by making full use of the agreement’s consultative mechanisms, represented by the joint committee and sub-committees,” Nakamura said.

The head of the Japanese delegation also said that the next joint committee will be hosted by Japan in the second half of 2010, when a new administration will have been in place in the Philippines. “The specific timing and the agenda will be coordinated through diplomatic channels,” Nakamura said. –Veronica Uy, Philippine Daily Inquirer