The two-day working visit in Manila (3-4 October) focused on the free trade agreement (FTA) signed on 28 April 2016 in Bern between the EFTA states and the Philippines. This agreement allows the EFTA states to expand their economic and trade relations with this partner.
Thanks to the new trade agreement, Swiss economic players will be able to benefit to a greater extent from the considerable growth potential that the Philippines currently demonstrates. Last year the Philippines was Switzerland’s sixth largest trading partner in Southeast Asia.
During the working visit, the members of the EFTA parliamentary committee held talks on the pending ratification of the FTA with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gwendolyn F. Garcia, senators and committee chairpersons Joseph Victor G. Ejercito and Juan Miguel F. Zubiri and other house members. A meeting was also held with the Philippine secretary of trade and industry, Ramon Lopez. The delegation members also visited the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where they formed a picture of the ADB’s objectives in the field of climate finance and of the bank’s results in developing countries in Asia.
In the second half of the week (5–7 October), the members of the EFTA Parliamentary Committee addressed the negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EFTA states and Vietnam, launched in 2012. The aim of these talks was to establish whether, and under what circumstances, these negotiations can be promptly concluded. The delegation benefited from the occasion to discuss at the highest political level the possibility of concluding an FTA comparable to that recently concluded between Vietnam and the EU.
During the two-day stay in Hanoi, meetings were held with Phung Quoc Hien, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, with Nguyen Van Giau, Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Duong Quoc Anh, Deputy Head of the Committee on Economic Affairs. The delegation also paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Tran Quoc Khanh. Further meetings at the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) and at the regional seat of the International Labour Organization (ILO) rounded off this working visit.
The plan to establish a free trade agreement with Vietnam reflects the close and sound relations between Switzerland and Vietnam. Vietnam is a priority country in Switzerland’s economic development cooperation. Switzerland supports Vietnam in its efforts to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth and to reduce poverty. Furthermore, this year Switzerland and Vietnam are celebrating 45 years of diplomatic relations.
The EFTA/EU delegation was headed by Thomas Aeschi (SVP/ZG), member of the National Council and Delegation President, and comprised Council of States member Karin Keller-Sutter (FDP/SG), National Council members Eric Nussbaumer (SP/BL) and Kathy Riklin (CVP/ZH), and Cédric Stucky, Head of EFTA/EU and Bilateral Relations.