The Philippines plans to sign free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, an official of the Trade Department said Tuesday.
Trade Undersecretary for international policy Adrian Cristobal Jr. said the Philippines was keen on having free trade agreements with both countries.
Cristobal said he recently visited Canada to explore opportunities with the North American country and ahead of President Benigno Aquino III’s visit.
“My trip to Canada was in preparation for the President’s visit. It’s a unique opportunity from our point of view since Canada is a huge new market for us, a source of new investments. We have initial studies that an FTA with Canada will be beneficial to the Philippines,” Cristobal said in an interview.
President Aquino is set to fly to the US and Canada on May 6, with trade issues on top of his agenda.
Cristobal said Canada was aware that the Philippines, as an emerging market, is a country of focus in “what they call as development program.”
“We both have complementary strategic interests. The FTA and the investment protection agreement are initiatives of both [countries],” Cristobal said.
Cristobal said the Philippines would also review the investment promotion and mutual protection agreement it signed with Canada in the 1990s.
The Philippines has over 40 investment promotion and mutual protection agreements with different countries.
Cristobal said the Philippines also wanted a free trade deal as well as investment promotion and mutual protection agreement with Mexico.
“The purpose of having investment promotion and mutual protection agreements is to provide comfort and confidence to investors of both sides,” Cristobal said.
The Trade Department is also working out bilateral trade agreements with Chile, the European Union and the European Free Trade Association.
Chile proposed to create an FTA with the Philippines. The Trade Department said it expected to sign the agreement by end-2015 or early 2016.
