The Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Philippines

(ANZCHAM), strongly urges the Philippine Senate to concur with the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which the Philippines signed last November 15 2020.

ANZCHAM believes that the RCEP will be important to support the recovery of the Philippines from the devastating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The RCEP is an economic treaty brokered by the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which the Philippines is a member.

It is a free trade agreement among the ten members of the ASEAN

plus five—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, and Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

It is considered to be the largest trade bloc in the world, representing 30 percent of the global GDP or $26.2 trillion.

“As an organization representing businesses with strong ties to countries that have already ratified the RCEP (Australia and New Zealand), we understand that the Philippines, especially its export industry severely hit by the pandemic, stands to miss out if this groundbreaking free trade agreement is not ratified. We urge the Senate to prioritize concurrence before the adjournment of the session in February,” said Daniel Alexander, president of ANZCHAM.

The ratification of the RCEP will be instrumental to instilling foreign-investor confidence in the country, which will be badly needed to revive the economy, added Alexander.

The RCEP has already entered into force on January 1 2022 for ten countries, namely, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia as an original party.

For the Republic of Korea, RCEP will enter into force on February 1 2022.

The Philippines has yet to fully ratify RCEP. President Rodrigo Duterte ratified the agreement last September 2 2021, but it needs concurrence of the Senate to take full effect. Arangkada Philippines