Press Release
February 6, 2008

Globalize on our own terms - Angara

Senator Edgardo Angara yesterday said that the Philippines should be more assertive and creative in international trade, asserting that the country should not just rely on international institutions and must instead pursue its own bilateral and multilateral trade.

"The Doha development round, which has promised a more equitable globalization for developing countries, has long been a dead dream," said Angara.

Angara, who was Senate President when the Philippines ratified its membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said that "while the Philippines has kept its part of the agreement, other countries have not followed it with the same alacrity."

"As such, our garment and textile industries, as well as our agriculture have suffered severely since then," Angara said.

According to Angara, "the country should instead focus its efforts in pursuing our own bilateral and multilateral trade."

"This is the current trend in many developing countries today. Already, Thailand, our principal competitor in agricultural products, has free trade agreements with almost all our principal trading partners, such as US and Japan. Our major agricultural products there now face uneven competition from Thailand, whose goods attract half the tariff our products carry," Angara said.

Angara also said that this strategy on international trade should be backed by strengthening the country's capabilities, especially in agriculture and science and technology.

"Around 40% of our population is still engaged in agriculture, and we should strengthen it to lift our farmers from rural poverty," he said.

"At the same time, we should invest in the future through science and technology to leapfrog our way to development," Angara, chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) said.

"Globalization has created new wealth and vast opportunities, but this has not been distributed evenly. Making globalization work for everyone is a challenge both government and civil society must face."

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