PHL-EU pact to benefit PHL in ASEAN single market — EU counselor

The Philippines will have an advantage when the single market is established among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015, says an official of the Delegation of the European Union.

The Philippines’ partnership agreement with the EU covering trade and investments, which will also take effect in three years, “creates positive inputs with the ASEAN economic integration,” said EU political counselor Julian Vasallo on the sidelines of the media briefing on the European Higher Education Fair, which will be held on Nov. 14 in Makati City.

The Partnership Cooperation Agreement will likely be ratified by the EU in 2013 and, says the EU’s official site, “will allow the two sides to address new challenges in a more coherent and sustainable way.”

The PCA provides a legal basis for the Philippines and the EU to cooperate on issues such as migration, energy, human rights, anti-corruption, and trade and investment. It is also expected to pave the way for negotiations of a free trade agreement between the two parties.

The agreement also allows better access of Philippine exports to the European market through enhanced cooperation to meet the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.

The EU is also negotiating similar bilateral agreements with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. — BM, GMA News