Bilateral cooperation pact tops new EU envoy’s priorities

THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) is keen on preparing for the implementation of soon to be signed cooperation deal with the Philippines through the forging of a free trade deal and the streamlining of customs procedures, its new ambassador yesterday said.

Guy Ledoux, who presented his credentials to Malacañang on Monday, said he will also retain as priorities the EU delegation’s advocacies of helping peace efforts in Mindanao and development projects across the country.

“The EU-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) will be signed soon,” Mr. Ledoux said without elaborating in a press briefing, referring to the broad framework pact whose negotiations were concluded last year.

“Although the agreement will enter into force only after ratification by parliaments both in the Philippines and Europe, we should start to develop our dialogs along the lines defined in the PCA. I look forward to discussing with your administration what will be our priorities in the next few years,” Mr. Ledoux said.

Expected policy developments arising from the deal include “how we can improve customs procedures” as well as the brokering of a free trade deal, he said.

The EU has yet to receive “official confirmation” of the Philippines’ interest in negotiating such a trade pact although it welcomed Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo’s manifestation to the EU late last year at the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting, Mr. Ledoux said.

“For the Philippines, the ball is in your court,” he said.

These efforts should strengthen the Philippines’ ties with what Mr. Ledoux claims is the world’s largest economy, with its 27 member states accounting last year for $16 trillion of global output, or more than thrice China’s.

The new delegation head went on to bare his other priorities: peace efforts in Mindanao and the Philippines’ attainment of the millennium development goals.

Directing funds for poverty alleviation in the South and elsewhere in the country, particularly for health services which account for half of the development aid budget, should help end the cycle of conflict, Mr. Ledoux said.

His posting here comes after a string of assignments in the trade and foreign relations divisions of the European Commission’s Asia, Middle East, and European Neighborhood Policy departments.

He had also been posted in Tunisia and South Korea as deputy head of delegation and as head of office in Taiwan.

The EU is a major trade and investment partner of the Philippines, with two-way trade estimated to be more than $10 billion per year.

European companies have also been significant investors in the Philippines in the banking, industrial or service sectors. –JESSICA ANNE D. HERMOSA, Senior Reporter, Businessworld