Philippines & Japan Working On Lower Tuna Dutiesff

Philippines and Japan have agreed to set for September this year the tentative signing of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA. The reduction of the import tariffs on fresh, frozen and canned tuna is part of the negotiations.

This was announced over the weekend by Trade and Industry Secretary Juan B. Santos, following a meeting with Japanese government officials in Tokyo last week.

According to Santos, the Philippines and Japan are "very near" to an agreement with the remaining two issues being the exchange of services and fisheries plus agricultural issues.

On the services issue, Santos said, the Philippines is asking Japan to liberalize the entry to and employment in Japan of qualified professionals without any specific target or limitation of persons, but instead dependent on demand.

On the agricultural issue, the Philippines is seeking more market access for its tuna products which are subject to strict phytosanitary and quarantine restrictions.

The governments of Japan and the Philippines started negotiations for the JPEPA in early 2004, although discussions in the Working Group and the Joint Coordinating Team had been initiated in 2002 and 2003.

A series of meetings between Japan and the Philippines were held since February last year and through these meetings, active and substantial negotiations were conducted.

The objective of the agreement would be to promote free trans-border flow of goods, persons, services and capital between Japan and the Philippines.

The agreement also aims to promote a comprehensive economic partnership, which includes intellectual property, competition policy, improvement of business environment and bilateral cooperation in such fields as human resources development, information and communications technology and small and medium enterprises.

For fishery products such as fresh, chilled or frozen yellowfin tunas and skipjack, there would be tariff elimination in five years after the entry into force of the JPEPA.