PHL lobbying to be included in regional partnership TPP, says Trade official

Hoping to expand access to major export markets such as the U.S. and Japan, the Philippines is endeavoring to be included in the next batch of countries to take part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a trade official said over the weekend.

The TPP is a trade agreement among Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States.

"If and when they open a second round of possible members, we intend to be part of that second batch of countries," Trade undersecretary Adrian Cristobal, Jr. told reporters.

Currently being negotiated by 12 countries, the TPP aims to establish a free trade bloc representing more than half of global output and over 40 percent of world trade.

The trade pact will remove trade barriers as well as set standards for intellectual property, labor rights and environmental protection. Cristobal noted that member-countries hope to seal the deal by year's end.

However, Cristobal admitted that it is not yet clear when the TPP will open the second cluster of countries to be added as members of the trade pact. Nevertheless, he assured the public that the Philippines is already undertaking preparations in the form of consultations with some of the members of the TPP.

"We don't know exactly when that [opening of the second batch] will be. Maybe, we'll have a better picture by end of this year or early next year on the status of the negotiations," he said.

The Trade department will also conduct impact studies on the TPP, he said, noting that it was imperative for the Philippines to be included in the list of countries benefiting from the trade pact.

"Our neighbors Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei are also part of that agreement. We will all be targeting the same markets...Naturally, if we are not there, then they will get preferential tariff rates for their goods. They will expand their market access and this in effect will diminish our market share of the goods we export," he said.

Earlier this year, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said that the Philippines is not yet ready to join the TPP.

The country's top five exports to the U.S. include static converters, ignition wiring sets, electrical and electronic machinery parts, monolithic integrated circuits and coconut oil.

Meanwhile, major exports of the Philippines to Japan are builders' joinery and carpentry of wood, other articles of plastics, ignition wiring sets, photosensitive semiconductor devices, as well as bananas. — Patricia Denise Chiu/BM, GMA News