THE Philippines should be more assertive and creative in international trade, Sen. Edgardo Angara said, adding that the country should not just rely on international institutions and must instead pursue its own bilateral and multilateral trade.

According to Angara, “the Doha development round, which has promised a more equitable globalization for developing countries, has long been a dead dream.”

He lamented that “while the Philippines has kept its part of the agreement [under the World Trade Organization], other countries have not followed it with the same alacrity.”

“As such, our garment and textile industries, as well as our agriculture, have suffered severely since then,” Angara added, suggesting that “the country should instead focus its efforts in pursuing our own bilateral and multilateral trade.”

The senator said this is the current trend in many developing countries today. “Already, Thailand, our principal competitor in agricultural products, has free-trade agreements with almost all our principal trading partners, such as the US and Japan. Our major agricultural products there now face uneven competition from Thailand, whose goods attract half the tariff our products carry.”

He insisted that this strategy on international trade should be backed by strengthening the country’s capabilities, especially in agriculture, and science and technology. “Around 40 percent of our population is still engaged in agriculture, and we should strengthen it to lift our farmers from rural poverty.”

“At the same time, we should invest in the future through science and technology to leapfrog our way to development,” Angara, chairman of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering, said.

“Globalization has created new wealth and vast opportunities, but this has not been distributed evenly,” he added.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said China remained keen on funding local projects despite the controversies hounding the now-scrapped national broadband network (NBN) government contract with Chinese company ZTE.

THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has suspended its new direct-hiring policy toward overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), apparently because of pressures from recruitment agencies and migrants themselves.

THE International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA) challenged the Philippines to take the lead in the production of genetically modified (GM) crops in Asia.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Canadian International Development Agency (Cida) has committed to support plans to unleash the full potential of the seaweed industry in the Southern Philippines, specifically in the province of Tawi-Tawi.

POOR sanitation costs the Philippines around P77.8 billion in economic losses, according to a new study commissioned to launch the International Year of Sanitation (IYS) on February 18.

CEBU CITY—The Korean Electric Co. (Kepco)-SPC Power Corp. (KSPC) consortium on Thursday held a groundbreaking ceremony to start the construction of its 200-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Naga City, south of Cebu City, while announcing that most of its expected output had already been contracted to distributors.

THE Philippines should be more assertive and creative in international trade, Sen. Edgardo Angara said, adding that the country should not just rely on international institutions and must instead pursue its own bilateral and multilateral trade.