InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS
MANILA, Philippines -- Despite continuing tensions over Scarborough Shoal, China is willing to back the Philippines in its bid to ask the World Trade Organization to extend its special treatment through quantitative restrictions on rice imports, officials said Friday.
National Food Authority administrator Angelito Banayo said this was the result of a recent high-level meeting with Deputy Minister for International Trade Yu Jianhua in China, where they both stressed the importance of continuous economic cooperation between the two countries.
Banayo called China’s commitment “good news” and a “thaw in the icy cold relations” of the two countries because of the Scarborough Shoal issue.
"We started our bilaterals with what we thought would be the most difficult (issue), considering the state of our political relations. But the Chinese officials were most cordial and gracious, and they even tendered a sumptuous lunch for the delegation,” Banayo said in a statement.
The Philippines, through its WTO Mission in Geneva, earlier filed a waiver in order to extend the rice QR, and is seeking the support of interested countries to forge a consensus to allow the country to limit the volume of rice imports beyond the seven-year limit agreed upon in 2005.
Under WTO rules, a consensus of all member countries has to be reached before agreeing to a member’s request for special treatment.
At present only the Philippines and South Korea have been allowed to impose quantitative restrictions on the importation of its main staple.
Philippine officials have underscored the need to continue the restrictions because four million rice farmers livelihood may be affected by a surge of unrestricted imports.
The country aims to achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2013.
InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS
BUSINESS NEWS
