EU, RP desire “earliest” signing of cooperation agreement

February 9, 2010 10:10 am 

By Gloria Jane Baylon

MANILA, Feb. 9 — The Philippines and the European Union (EU) desire to have a signing of the proposed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) “at the earliest opportunity,” following the two-day fourth round of negotiations in Manila last week.

The PCA will serve as the general framework of relations between the Philippines and the EU on general principles of trade and investment, competition policy, and science and technology.

It will also elevate the relationship by increasing interaction at various levels, including government-to-government, business-to-business, and people-to-people exchanges.

Early signing of the proposed agreement has not been possible because of how the “contentious” issue of human rights may be put into the agreement, considering that the Philippines is still an economically-depressed country, diplomats who asked not to be identified said.

In fact, human rights was not mentioned in the joint statement.

However, in the just-concluded round, “convergence was attained on combating illicit drugs, employment and social affairs, data protection, education, culture and intercultural and interfaith dialogue, development cooperation, statistics, and small arms and light weapons” during the actual negotiations, a joint statement of the PCA negotiators said.

James Moran, Director for Asia in the European Community’s External Relations Department, said the ”fourth round of PCA negotiations has made a great deal of progress, reflecting the shared intention of both the EU and the Philippines to strengthen our relations through the intensified cooperation which the PCA will make possible”.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretaries Enrique Manalo and Edsel Custodio expressed optimism that the RP-EU PCA would not only strengthen the traditional links between the Philippines and the EU, but also enhance cooperation in various fields on the basis of mutual benefit.

Both resolved to continue working to reach convergence on the remaining articles —but did not identify them– at the next round of negotiations planned in Brussels for March 2010. (PNA)

LDV/GJB

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