Off the wire
• Roundup: Lithuania to enhance security measures following Paris attacks  • EU to increase budget to tackle refugee crisis after Paris attacks  • 1st LD: 19 nationalities among victims, France to intensify operations in Syria: Hollande  • Norway to co-host int'l donor conference for Syria in London  • Urgent: 19 nationalities among victims of attacks "organized in Belgium": Hollande  • Influx of masses increases threat of terrorism, crime: Hungarian PM  • Indonesia issues travel advisory for nationals planning to go to or through France  • China's oldest Olympic athlete dies at 103  • Israel slams Sweden on comments linking Paris attacks to Israeli-Palestinian conflict  • FLASH: 5,000 MORE JOBS OF POLICE, GENDARMES IN 2 YEARS: HOLLANDE  
You are here: 　 Home

EU, Philippines to start free trade talks

Xinhua, November 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Council of the European Union (EU) on Monday decided to embark on the bloc's negotiations with the Philippines on a free trade deal.

Negotiations will be led by the bloc's executive arm the European Commission in consultation with the European Council's trade policy committee.

The Council encouraged the Commission to take an "ambitious" approach, said an official statement.

The EU is the largest investment partner of the Philippines, with a foreign direct investment (FDI) of around 8 billion euros (8.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013, accounting for about 30 percent of the country's total FDI stock, according to the EU.

In 2013, EU-Philippines trade in goods was worth roughly 11 billion euros, with over 5.7 billion euros in exports from the EU to the Philippines, making the continent the 4th largest trading partner of the Philippines.

In 2007, the EU negotiated a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which the Philippines is a member. However, the process was later suspended and the bloc started to seek talks with individual ASEAN member countries from 2009.

The EU is currently negotiating with two ASEAN countries, Malaysia and Thailand, while talks with two others, Singapore and Vietnam, have concluded. Endit