Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments Managing Head of the Philippines Cerefino Rodolfo said in a recent briefing that many countries had expressed the desire to enter into a trade deal with Manila.

On September 7, the Department of Trade and Industry officially signed an FTA with South Korea – the Philippines' third bilateral pact – at the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Manila's first FTA was with Japan under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement in 2006, and its second was signed with the European Free Trade Association in 2016.

In June this year, the Philippines officially joined the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), more than two years after participating countries formally signed the FTA in November 2020.

“Recently, we just signed another bilateral FTA with South Korea, and once effective, it will be our third bilateral FTA," Gepty said.

The country's FTA network, he said, is currently "anchored mainly on regional FTAs via the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)."

The Philippines, meanwhile, also benefits from a few generalized systems of preference (GSP) arrangements, such as the European Union GSP Plus (EU-GSP+) and the U.K. Developing Countries Trading Scheme (UK DCTS).

Both Rodolfo noted upcoming negotiations for an FTA with the European Union (E.U.).

"With regard to the FTA with the [E.U.] we are still on track to finish the scoping discussion by the end of this year, and by early next year, we plan to start formal negotiations for the Philippines-EU FTA," Rodolfo said.

“Fortunately, the European Commission proposed to extend the generalized tariff preferences, including the GSP+ for the Philippines, for another four years."

Rodolfo said the Philippines could preserve the EU-General Scheme of Preference+ level of access to products through the DCTS, "which is even more generous than the EU-GSP+".

“Because of this, the Philippines will have access to enhanced preferences, ensuring tariff-free access on 92 percent of eligible goods, covering 99 percent of exports to the U.K., with estimated tariff savings of GBP21 million (approximately P1.45 billion) for Philippine businesses."