PH and EFTA Review Implementation of Free Trade Agreement

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, have reasserted their economic cooperation with the Philippines as they review the implementation of the Philippines-EFTA free trade agreement (FTA).

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) released a statement saying that the EFTA states and the Philippines have officially evaluated the implementation of the FTA that was imposed last 2018. The assessment of the FTA was done during the inaugural joint committee meeting held by the EFTA member states.

This joint committee meeting was co-chaired by Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo and on behalf of the EFTA member states, Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs Minister Karin Buechel.

DTI has stated that “Over the five years of implementation, both sides have confirmed that the FTA is working well and has no critical implementation issues to date. The preferential utilization rates for the Philippines and EFTA member states were reported at 31 percent and 30 percent for 2020, respectively,”

Both sides are set on advancing their respective utilization rates.

The DTI mentioned that a significant aspect of the meeting was the official preview of the PH-EFTA FTA online interactive web tool that will aid the EFTA exporters and the Philippines to take full advantage of their preferences under the FTA.

Usec Rodolfo has said that “We are privileged to be the EFTA’s first recipient partner of this online web tool to promote the PH-EFTA FTA. This will really benefit the Philippines and EFTA business community,”

Source: Philstar