Tuesday, April 03, 2007 China opens doors to trade on services with RP, Asean
CHINA will open its doors to exports on Philippine services starting in July.
The development is part of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China agreement on trade in services that was signed by the heads of the two governments on the sidelines of the Asean-Asian economic summit held in Cebu last January.
The agreement came out with a first package of services that will be freely traded between China and the Asean trade bloc, led by the Philippines.
An official statement issued by the negotiators said the agreement covers business services, such as computer-related services, real estate services, market research and management consulting.
It also includes construction and engineering-related services, tourism and travel related services, transport and educational services, telecommunications, health-related and social services, recreational, cultural and sporting services and energy services.
Agreement
Under the agreement, the Philippines is also expected to be open to professionals from other Asean members and China, in as much as their economies will be opened to organized or individual export of services and service providers.
Specifically, the Philippines will open to China in the fields of oil and gas exploration, an area where the Chinese are interested in because of their rapidly growing need for energy.
Exchange
Within a year after the first package of services that will be allowed to be exchanged between China and Asean, another package will have to be negotiated, expanding the scope of the agreement.
The country has been gearing up to a more organized export of professional services since it formed the Philippine Services Coalition last year and incorporated its development plan into the export plan overseen by the Export Development Council.
Priorities
The top priorities are tourism, information and communications technology-enabled services that include call centers, business process outsourcing and medical and legal transcription, management consultancy, architectural and engineering, animation and health services.
Service industries have been organizing to take advantage of more organized modes of exports besides the sending of individuals abroad. (Phil-export News)
