Canada-Philippines trade pact pushed

To further boost bilateral trade between the Philippines and Canada, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CCCP) is gearing up for the drafting the specific scope of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Canadian chamber president Julian H. Payne told reporters in Manila that as the FTA is crucial to ensure the country's position as a globally competitive, highly lucrative investment destination, they are pushing for the realization of the proposed agreement.
"We are now in the process of gathering our members every meeting to discuss the background and inputs regarding the FTA. Primarily our concern is how we can come up with a specific scope of the agreement so we will have clearer vision and direction towards this thrust," he said, according to sunstar.com.
Once the scope will be identified the chamber will endorse the draft to both governments.
"There is a need to identify what concern should we be focusing on as far as the agreement is concern, may it be investment, job mobility and standards, among others," Payne added.
The FTA was first eyed when former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the launching of the possibility of exploring the FTA after the three-day state visit to Canada of President Benigno Aquino III last May 7-9.
"The exploratory discussion of the proposed FTA is still yet to start depending if the incumbent Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will still consider idea," Payne said adding that Trudeau took the position by last quarter of this year.
But Payne is positive that the agreement will go ahead as Canada always welcome trade agreements.
"I anticipate that this will go ahead but we must put it into account that both governments should remain to be interested with the proposed FTA especially now that Philippines will also have upcoming regular presidential elections, it really depends," he said.
If the Philippines-Canada FTA will push through, it will be considered as a unique trade agreement between the both governments.
"There will be no overlapping, Philippines is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) while Canada is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), if the FTA will be realized it will open windows for both countries to other bigger markets," Payne said.
The comprehensive FTA, once approved, will be the Canada's first trade agreement with a country from the Southeast Asia.
At present Ayala land and Banco De Oro (BDO) have presence of business in Canada which could be considered as signs of growing partnership between the two trade-oriented countries.
Official Canadian data showed that bilateral trade grew by an annual 2.5 percent to C$1.8 billion in 2014. Canadian merchandise imports from the Philippines came in at around C$1.24 billion, while a total of C$569.5 million is recorded for Canadian exports to the Philippines.
CCCP also continues the conduct of trade mission in the country, accompanied by representatives from several firms in the agriculture and agri-food, defense and security, information and communications technology, infrastructure, real estate and sustainable technology industries.
In a recently-concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit wherein Philippines served as the host economy, Trudeau positioned Philippines as a "Country of Focus" or one of the 25 countries that will receive 90 percent of Canada's bilateral Official Development Assistance and receives support for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) inclusion.
ODA is Canada's financial international aid program to "reduce extreme poverty, create environments conducive to long-term prosperity and security."
Meanwhile, the Philippines has FTAs with China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Australia and other Asian countries under the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area.