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The Philippines and the United Kingdom agreed to pursue closer cooperation and increase trade across sectors including infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture and technology
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Trade officials committed to progressing work towards a government-to-government Financing Framework Partnership that will unlock up to £5 billion of potential financing
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The funds will support delivery of sustainable public infrastructure and improve access to UK expertise and technology in the Philippines
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The officials also endorsed efforts to improve utilization of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which offers Philippine exporters tariff-free access on 92% of products
The Philippines and the United Kingdom (UK) have agreed to pursue closer cooperation and increase trade across sectors including infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture and technology.
Philippine Trade undersecretary Allan Gepty and UK Minister for trade policy and economic security Douglas Alexander committed to progressing work towards a government-to-government Financing Framework Partnership that will unlock up to £5 billion of potential financing from UK Export Finance—the UK government’s export credit agency—to support the delivery of sustainable public infrastructure and improve the Philippines’ access to UK expertise and technology.
Both countries agreed to develop a project pipeline in anticipation of the establishment of the Framework, according to a joint statement.
The commitment was made during the first Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting between the two countries on March 17. The JETCO aims to upgrade the bilateral trade relationship currently worth £2.8 billion in 2024.
Gepty and Alexander also endorsed efforts to improve utilization of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), which offers Philippine exporters tariff-free access on 92% of products.
Launched in 2023, DCTS targets to lower or remove tariffs on additional 156 products for developing countries, including the Philippines, in addition to more than 6,000 tariff lines covered by the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+). An export handbook that details key regulatory compliance requirements, including how to leverage the DCTS to benefit from preferential tariff rates is soon to be launched.
Gepty and Alexander also agreed on activities to further strengthen the business landscape in the Philippines and facilitate investment and digitalization of trade. This covers continuing collaboration on regulatory reform initiatives, facilitating business linkages, and capacity building on artificial intelligence policy frameworks and governance.
Gepty and Alexander also highlighted investment opportunities in the Philippines for UK agricultural companies and promoted imports of UK meat in light of the recent removal of bans on beef and poultry exports from the UK, worth £80 million over five years. They also agreed to continue collaboration across
issues such as animal disease detection and antimicrobial resistance as well as new opportunities for collaboration on precision breeding and genetics.
Opportunities in offshore renewable energy featured heavily in discussions. In 2024, the UK was the largest single investor in the Philippines, driven mainly by investments in renewables.
Such opportunities for UK companies were enhanced in 2022 with the removal of foreign equity restrictions for renewable energy companies.
Based on the UK Department of Business and Trade’s Trade and Investment Factsheet, the Philippines was the UK’s 60th largest trading partner in the end of the third quarter of 2024 accounting for 0.2% of total UK trade. Total trade in goods and services between the Philippines and the UK in the same period was £2.8 billion.
The new Philippines-UK JETCO adds extra emphasis to the UK’s deepening relationships across the wider Asia Pacific region.
The JETCO also follows the launch of the Philippines-UK Joint Framework for the Enhanced Partnership – an enhancement of bilateral relations across foreign policy, economic growth, security and defense cooperation among other areas.
READ: PH, UK boost trade ties with meat trade briefing, reception
