25 August 2004 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo instructed Undersecretary Edsel T. Custodio and Ambassador Manuel A.J. Teehankee, Philippine Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO), “to ensure that the national interest in the context of the three pillars of Philippine foreign policy is promoted during the negotiations under the Doha Work Programme of the WTO” scheduled to begin in September in Geneva.

“The Philippine interventions in the negotiations must be geared towards the promotion of the national economy, one of the three pillars in our foreign policy,” Secretary Romulo said as Ambassador Teehankee prepares for the WTO negotiations.

The Ambassador said that the Philippines will call for people-centered and development-oriented negotiations.   After an intense two-week negotiating process, the General Council of the WTO adopted a Decision and the Doha Work Programme on 1 August 2004.

“Under the Work Programme, it is expected that all members will be gearing up for the negotiations process, which is hoped to be concluded by the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO, to be held in Hong Kong in December of 2005” according to Undersecretary Custodio.

The Philippines was very active throughout the consultations and negotiations as a member and vice-chair of the G33, led by Indonesia, and as a member of the G20, led by Brazil and India. The G20 successfully negotiated (1) the tying-up of the creation of any blue box to the establishment of criteria and conditions to be done during the post-July negotiations; (2) the ensuring of a credible down-payment of domestic support reduction during the first year of implementation, as well as capping of the blue box at 5% of agricultural production, and (3) the scaling back of any carve-out being sought by developed countries for their sensitive products.

Ambassador Teehankee also stressed that special and differential treatment figures prominently in the work programme. “The Philippines worked closely with like-minded delegations such as Indonesia, and successfully negotiated for the full recognition of the concept of Special Products, which will assure to developing countries a safety net against any new market access obligations for products that are vital to a country’s food security, livelihood security and rural development needs,” he said.

To prepare for the Doha Round of Trade Negotiations, the inter-agency Technical Committee on WTO Matters is expected to conduct multi-stakeholder consultations and discussions to formulate Philippine positions in vital issues. The key elements of the work programme relate to agriculture, market access for non-agricultural products (NAMA), services, and trade facilitation.

The Department of Trade and Industry leads domestic discussion on NAMA; the Department of Agriculture on agricultural issues; and the National Economic and Development Authority on services. Trade facilitation will be coordinated by the DTI and the Bureau of Customs.

“With the support of the DFA Home Office and the other members of our Manila-based WTO team,” Ambassador Teehankee said, “I am confident that we will be able to articulate and defend Philippine interests in the Doha Trade Round.”

Ambassador Teehankee also stressed that the Philippine delegation will be guided by the President’s 10-point agenda, and will strive for a multilateral trading system that supports our programs on poverty alleviation and employment generation.

“The WTO negotiations should be people-centered and development-oriented. I hope that our success with the G-20 and G-33 alliances in forging a fairer framework for the upcoming negotiations will augur well for the coming discussions,” he said. END