Partnership pact for wider tuna market in Europe pushed

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The forging of a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the European Union and the Philippines is essential to advance the chances of the country's tuna products in the 27-member states, a top diplomat said.

Ambassador Alistair H. Macdonald, head of the European Commission Delegation to the Philippines, is confident that Europe and the Philippines would soon sign the PCA to benefit not only the tuna industry but also other economic and political partnerships.

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"The negotiations on this agreement were successfully completed in June, and the agreement should be signed in the next couple of months once the necessary formalities have been completed on both sides," he told the recently concluded 12th National Tuna Congress here.

Should the agreement be inked, MacDonald noted that the Philippines will be the second Asean country, after Indonesia, to have entered into a modern PCA with the EU.

This will lay a solid foundation for the further strengthening of our partnership in the years ahead, he added.

MacDonald also lauded the new Aquino administration for showing interest to further strengthen the economic relations between the Philippines and Europe, and for considering the possibility of entering into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo and EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht talked on the FTA issue recently in Hanoi in a bid to potentially strengthen trade and investment links between the EU and the Philippines, the envoy said.

Europe is the major destination of canned tuna from this city, dubbed as the "Tuna Capital of the Philippines."

In 2009, the country exported $253 million worth of canned tuna, of which $145 million or 57 percent landed in the European market, $25 million in the United States and the rest to other nations, data from the Department of Trade and Industry showed.

In a press conference here, MacDonald assured wider access for the country's tuna products in the European market, but shot down the renewal of the preferential tariff treatment to the Philippines that expired two years ago.

Trade arrangements, including tuna access in the EU, will be negotiated in the context of an FTA, he said.

The EU had implemented a Tariff Rate Quota scheme that allowed the Philippines to export 9,000 metric tons of canned tuna with a 12-percent tariff but the five-year scheme ended in June 2008.

With the scheme's expiration, canned tuna products from the country are slapped with a 24 percent tax, which was deemed disadvantageous to the local tuna industry as export rivals from the African, Caribbean and Andean countries are enjoying tax-free status.

Earlier, the EU introduced the PCA as a component of the proposed comprehensive EU-Asean free trade agreement. It required Asean countries to sign a PCA as a prerequisite to the FTA, which would be separately negotiated by the member-states.

Asean comprises the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore and Laos.