Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City
May 25, 2023
“With this conducive business atmosphere that we are fostering, I believe that we can all agree that the timing and conditions are now quite ripe for us to solidify our long-standing and historically beneficial trade relations,” President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. emphasized as he called for a bilateral Philippine-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to further enhance the country’s economic partnership with Europe.
The President conveyed these remarks during his attendance to the gala dinner of the 10th European Union (EU) – Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Council, where he underscored the bilateral FTA as a win-win strategy for both the Philippines and EU.
“It promises to achieve mutually beneficial economic goals, while maintaining consistency with the EU’s core ideals of sustainable development and environment protection, as well as with EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy,” he remarked, encouraging stakeholders and partners to proactively advocate for the resumptions of negotiations for this purpose.
With the strong economic growth of the country that reached 7.6% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year and rollout of the Philippine Development Plan for 2023-2028, the Chief Executive said this signifies highly resilient economic activity in the country, creating a more conducive environment that facilitates the attainment of tangible socioeconomic goals for the nation.
“The enabling environment covers vital areas and concerns especially infrastructure, strategic investments, peace, security and justice, good governance and regulatory efficiency, financial stability, and last but not least, climate change,” he stated, noting that these enhance the features of the Philippines as an attractive trade and investment destination.
Spearheaded by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) and the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC), the gala dinner is a side event of the Business Dialogue that served as a venue to discuss further ways of championing the long-standing relations between the Philippines and Europe.
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