President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. on Thursday said it is time to resume the negotiations for a bilateral Philippine-European Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Marcos made the remark in his speech during the EU-ABC Annual General Meeting Gala Dinner in Makati City where members of European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) and the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) attended.

“I take this opportunity to call upon our friends from the EU-ABC and ECCP to actively advocate for the resumption of negotiations for this purpose, as well as to strive for fair treatment and more beneficial reciprocity,” he said.

“And if and when that happens, it could very well be the capstone of all efforts to strengthen Philippine and EU relations over the course of the next decades,” Marcos added.

The President cited that since he sat in office, his administration has worked to create a favorable economic environment in order to attract more investors to the country.

Meanwhile, he bared that the government will create express or "green" lanes to integrate and streamline permitting and approval processes, as well as eliminate needless barriers and redundancies.

According to Marcos, these will improve the potential of the Philippines to be an "attractive trade and investment destination", and these will lay the groundwork for a "more productive and stronger partnership between the Philippines and the EU."

In 2022, the Philippines has shown encouraging signs of recovery from the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, with a 7.6 percent GDP growth.

Written By Dana Ebreo, DZRH News Online Intern