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PHILIPPINE trade officials and European business leaders
faced off Thursday to confront the challenges of the key
sectors affecting trade relations between the
Philippines and businesses in the European Union (EU);
and the EU side pitched for, besides good governance, a
liberalization in the services sector to allow in more
foreign workers to the country.
The
European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP),
in its policy recommendations submitted to the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), has specified
reforms in the key sectors of energy, transportation,
services, manufacturing and agriculture—mostly seeking
political will in addressing “white elephants” and
enforcing good governance and transparency.
In
agriculture, the ECCP said the government “should shift
its focus from subsidizing the importation of
agricultural products to investing in the development of
agricultural production.” It added that “reducing the
cost of locally grown produce addresses the problem of
smuggling.”
ECCP
president Hubert d’Aboville said, meanwhile, that
European business supports the booming services sector
in the Philippines but emphasized the need to open its
market to the European services industry.
“If the
Philippines wants to become the service provider for the
rest of the world, it cannot hide behind legal
restrictions not to allow the practice of foreign
professionals,” said d’Aboville.
Industrialist Oscar Lopez of First Philippine Holdings
countered in his speech that the Philippines can better
engage with European business if there is also free
access to the EU market for the Philippines and the EU
opens its borders to workers and professionals.
“You are
very serious in pushing for the protection of
intellectual-property rights [IPR],” said Lopez, noting
that as a result of this measure, most European
companies “charge [high] fees and to the point of
withholding life-saving medicines from our destitute
sick.”
Lopez
also criticized the EU’s highly-subsidized agricultural
sector, a situation, he said, that made the products of
Third World countries like the
Philippines uncompetitive. [The} “Philippine canned-tuna
industry has faced difficulty because of the
preferential tariffs that the EU has given to its former
colonies, mostly in Africa.”
Meanwhile, in the energy sector, the ECCP raised concern
that the Philippines might not be preparing enough for
an energy shortage that is expected to happen in the
next three years.
However,
the ECCP said: “There is insufficient energy capacity in
the pipeline [base load plants]. Power plants that are
being built are facing difficulties with their
surrounding communities.”
The
group cited the proposed
Iloilo
coal plant being opposed by many sectors, including the
local communities.
Some of
the concerns in the manufacturing industry include the
lack of skilled labor, high cost of electricity and the
absence of real industrial policy. |
