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Louella Desiderio - The Philippine Star
February 23, 2025 | 12:00am
“Next round will be in June in Brussels,” Trade Undersecretary Allan Gepty said in a Viber message.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and the European Union (EU) are set to hold the next round of talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) in June, following last week’s negotiations.
“Next round will be in June in Brussels,” Trade Undersecretary Allan Gepty said in a Viber message.
He said there would be inter-sessional sessions to fast-track the negotiations.
The Philippines and the EU conducted FTA negotiations in Manila from Feb. 10 to 14.
“In terms of coverage, almost all key areas of the proposed FTA were discussed like services, investments, rules of origin, trade remedies, government procurement, trade and sustainable development, customs and trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises), etc.,” Gepty said.
In October last year, the Philippines and the EU resumed FTA talks which were stalled since 2017.
Before last year’s resumption of FTA talks, the Philippines and the EU held two rounds of negotiations, one in 2016 and another in 2017.
Gepty said the government aims to conclude the FTA before the end of the Marcos administration in 2028.
Earlier, he said the target is to complete the FTA talks by 2027.
With the country expected to reach upper-middle income status, he also said there is a need to conclude the FTA talks as soon as possible to ensure the country continues to enjoy preferential market access to the EU.
The Philippines is a beneficiary of the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which allows the duty-free entry of 6,274 products to the bloc.
Gepty earlier said that the country could lose its GSP+ beneficiary status if it is classified as an upper middle-income country for three consecutive years.
