DTI aims to establish stronger Digital Trade Agreements

The DTI looks to establish a digital trade agreement with several key partners.

“Digital Trade agreement is one area of interest that the Philippines is looking at either at a bilateral platform or plurilateral platform. New FTAs (free trade agreements) elements of digital trade are also being incorporated such as in e-commerce chapters,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

“For Philippines, noting our niche in services sector particularly in IT-BPM (information technology-business process management) and other business services like software development, graphics, and animation services, and the fact that we want to position [the] Philippines as a hub for [a] hyper-scale data center in the region, a digital trade agreement with key partners would be a strategic approach,” Lopez added.

In the SEA region, Singapore leads in forging digital trade treaties. Currently, the country has agreements with Chile, New Zealand, and Australia. Singapore has also reportedly been negotiating with the UK, Vietnam, and South Korea.

Lopez has said that the Philippines has embraced rules and disciplines on e-commerce in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and ASEAN Agreement on E-Commerce.

RCEP is a free-trade agreement between the 10 members of the ASEAN, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. The agreement covers emerging areas in trade such as intellectual property, electronic commerce, government procurement, and competition.

The agreement is expected to benefit Philippines MSMEs and consumers alike.

“E-commerce enables MSMEs to have wider and greater market reach at practically no additional, or very minimal, overhead cost. It also allows consumers to have access to a wealth of products and services in the world,” said Lopez.

According to an economist from RCBC, these digital trade agreements would further complement the country’s free trade agreements (FTAs) and increase productivity gains in the economy.

“These would also ensure harmonization and adoption of internationally accepted standards on digital trade, while also preventing digital protectionism that unduly favor local industry players, applying the principles of reciprocity, fairness, and level the playing field for international digital trade that opens immense market opportunities especially for smaller enterprises to access bigger markets worldwide,” said RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort.

Ricafort has also said that the increased sharing of digital trade has led to these treaties becoming more crucial for a globalized economy. He mentions that these will help the Philippines adapt to the increasingly digitalized world of business.

A study released by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) said the Philippines is in ” a good position to pursue regional digital trade integration.”

Source: The Manila Times