MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and China reconvened yesterday their Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation (JCETC) after a five-year hiatus brought about by the territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea, with the two nations forging various agreements that seek to strengthen and deepen their economic and trade relations.

The 28th Philippines-China JCETC meeting in Manila marked Zhong Shan’s first official trip as the top leader of China’s Ministry of Commerce.

“The Philippines and Chinese economies are strongly complementary to each other. The two countries have a very strong potential to be tapped to further promote our trade growth,” Zhong said yesterday through an interpreter.

“China has 1.3 billion consumers and that is enormously big market and this market is open to products and services of the Philippines. Apart from trade, the government of China also encourages Chinese firms to come to the Philippines and make investments here,” he added.

Zhong and Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez agreed on important initiatives geared towards improving overall levels of trade and investment between the two countries, foremost of which is a six-year development program for economic and trade cooperation that will serve as the overall framework for economic relations from 2017 to 2022.

The development program was endorsed by the JCETC for signing later this month during the visit of a high-level delegation from China.

A list of priority infrastructure projects to be funded by available Chinese credit facility was also agreed upon during the meeting of the two ministers.

Lopez said three projects worth $3.4 billion have been identified by the Chinese government for priority funding. These are the Chico River Pump Irrigation project, New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project, and the North-South railway–South Line project.

“At this moment we do not yet have the companies that will undertake these projects. Contracts have not been signed so we cannot say at this moment the specific terms and conditions of the loans,” China’s Ministry of Commerce director general Wu Zhengping said.

“Regarding the timeline for the implementation of these three priority projects, we will try to launch the first two projects (the Chico River Pump Irrigation and New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam projects) by the first semester of this year and for the North-South railway–South Line project we will try to launch the project by the end of this year,” he added.

Other agreements reached during the JCETC include Chinese assistance in the form of grants for the construction of two bridges over the Pasig River, capacity building programs for rice experts and aquaculturists, establishment of alert mechanism and undertaking prompt notification on the incidence of plant and animal diseases, development of a protocol governing the handling and resolution of cases of detection and non-compliance, expansion of the scale of agricultural trade between both countries, identifying possible locations of the proposed Philippines-China Industrial Park, and endorsement of complementary areas for further studies and private sector participation.

Despite conflicts in the past, Lopez said the friendship between the Philippines and China was never “completely severed.”

“Taking advantage of the thrust of the current administration to rebalance engagements with Asian neighbors and the mutual high-level policy support for renewed bilateral economic ties, the DTI has worked closely with partner agencies and China’s Ministry of Commerce to ensure concrete harvest of quick wins for both sides,” Lopez said.

“The DTI foresees a more meaningful engagement with China as a good neighbor in the coming years as we work with renewed vigor towards a deepened and strengthened cooperation based on mutual values, goals and results. As we embark on renewed ties, it is imperative that we look back and recall that, in truth, the ties of friendship between us were never completely severed and continues to this day,” he added.

The JCETC is the official bilateral mechanism for discussion of trade, investments, and economic cooperation which was convened at the ministerial level in support of high-level policy pronouncements on strengthened bilateral ties.

Lopez said re-convening of the Philippines-China JCETC serves as testament to the commitment of both sides to bring to fruition the huge trade and investment potentials between the two countries.

08 March 2017
By Richmond Mercurio