The Philippines and Taiwan are negotiating for an economic partnership agreement that would establish a free trade area between the two countries, Amadeo Perez Jr., chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) said. Perez said both Taiwan and the Philippines are separately conducting studies that would become the basis or parameters of discussion for the economic cooperation pact (ECA). He said the feasibility study for the Philippines, being done by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) should be out by March. Perez said the proposed economic cooperation would be national in scope as the coverage of an earlier plan to establish the economic corridor between Clark-Subic –Kaohsiung was very limited. With an agreement in place, both the Philippines and Taiwan would have to give each other concessions in trade and investments amid strained relations with China. The ECA would be among the topics to be discussed at the Joint Economic Conference between Philippines and Taiwan in August in Taipei. This is unlike the Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung corridor where the preferences are limited to those geographical locations. Preferences such as reduced tariffs or incentives though should abide by domestic laws, meaning they should not be superior to those given to local firms and at the very least to Asean countries under the Asean free trade area.
