ISDS Case Map
Philippines
Japan's ongoing negotiations over free trade agreements with Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are entering a crucial stage.
The Philippines has yet to adopt a systematic framework that would govern its negotiations for bilateral free-trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries, according to two economic analysts.
Talks of a possible trade-off between the local agriculture and industrial sectors in the on-going trade negotiations for the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) are worrying various sectors.
The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, more than a trade agreement, is essentially about increasing and ensuring the free entry and operation of Japanese investors in the Philippines by limiting the role of government in regulating investments.
Japan's separate negotiations with Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and South Korea for bilateral free trade agreements have run into a brick wall.
As the Philippines strives to get Japan to allow in Filipino health-care workers under a free-trade agreement now under negotiation, the country itself could be moving rapidly toward a crisis in which patients suffer as health-care professionals move abroad.
American businessmen have given the thumbs up to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's move to undertake "painful" reforms in solving the fiscal crisis and a projected power crisis, Philippines-US Business Council chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr. said Thursday.
The Philippines will accelerate the timetable for its tariff reduction program involving certain agricultural products under the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China Free Trade Area (AFTA) Agreement.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed hope on Wednesday for the early establishment of a planned free trade zone linking China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The government will try a novel approach in securing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States since the US does not believe that the Philippines is ready for a full bilateral FTA.
