THE Philippines can commit to the structural reforms lined up for the member-economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), except to the competition policy among the 21 nations in the Pacific Rim, said an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The DFA official said part of the Apec members’ commitment to promoting trade and investments in the region includes the adoption of the structural reforms that seek to amend domestic policies to achieve higher productivity and international competitiveness.

“Structural reforms that pertain to strengthening governance can be implemented by the Philippines. But we cannot adopt, as a national program, [a] competition policy under the framework of the Apec structural reforms,” said the DFA official who requested anonymity.

A document on regional economic integration for Apec obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that the agreed actions to implement structural reforms include first, strengthening the capacity of Apec secretariat to assist member-economies in policy dialogue on structural reform and in strengthening domestic institutions and policies that support the reform process.

The second agreed action stated that economies will strengthen Apec’s work on structural reform and provide greater resources and institutional capacity to support by taking actions to:

“Identify and prioritize reform initiatives under the five Leader’s Agenda on Structural Reform  themes of competition policy, regulatory reform, strengthening economic and legal infrastructure, corporate governance and public-sector management with the best potential to improve economic growth and trade,” said the Apec document.

But the DFA official said the Philippines cannot commit to the clause on “competition policy” as indicated in the second agreed plan of action in the Apec structural reforms.

He said the Philippines and the economies of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are still focused on strengthening their respective economies by implementing intra-Asean free-trade agreements, as well as trade deals with Asean dialogue partners like Japan, China and South Korea.

HONG KONG (via PLDT)—President Arroyo said on Monday the government expects rice production to increase by 7 percent this year due to “unprecedented” spending on the agricultural sector.

TAIWANESE firms infused a total of $782.3 million in investments in the country in 2007 and have already committed to expand their operations here in the next years, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) reported Monday.

FRANCE will soon open employment opportunities to thousands of Filipino nurses and information-technology professionals to meet its increasing labor-market demand, said the French envoy to Manila.

AUSTRALIA-BASED Nido Petroleum Ltd. said the Galoc oil field is getting near its production phase with the Lewak Champion, its installation vessel, completing the deployment of the mooring and riser assembly.

THE government of Austria plans to increase trade and investments in the Philippines by encouraging its private sectors to engage in the multibillion- dollar business on clean development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol that seeks to lower emission in developed countries by 2012.

THE government’s problems with foreign aid are rooted in the country’s flawed procurement laws, not the nature of official development assistance (ODA) itself, according to a former government official.

A PROMINENT economist said Friday that the private sector must increase its economic activities to ensure the economic gains of last year are going to be maintained.

THE Philippines can commit to the structural reforms lined up for the member-economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec), except to the competition policy among the 21 nations in the Pacific Rim, said an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).