24 June 2026, Room W

China welcomes the delegation of the Philippines led by Undersecretary Allan B. Gepty to Geneva. We thank Ambassador Victor Manuel of Mexico for his comments on the Philippines’ trade policy development as the discussant. We would also like to thank the Secretariat for the preparation work.

During the review period, the Philippine economy maintained steady growth, reflecting its efforts in improving macroeconomic governance and sustained reform.

On trade, China has been the largest trading partner of the Philippines for ten consecutive years. We welcome the Philippines’ continued progress in trade facilitation and customs modernization. At the same time, we notice some policy developments during the review period do not appear to be fully consistent with that direction.

The Philippines expanded the list of products subject to mandatory certification from 43 to 114, which will increase the compliance cost for business.

And test results from limited overseas laboratories are recognized. We hope the scope of mutual recognition be expanded and the conformity assessment procedures be simplified.

On investment, we note with interest the Philippines’ recent legislative initiatives, including amendments to the Public Service Act and the Foreign Investments Act, which aim to relax foreign equity restrictions and streamline the fiscal incentive system.

We appreciate the Philippines' active engagement in various work of the WTO under the leadership of Ambassador Teehankee. We appreciate his dedicated contribution serving as the coordinator of Informal Group of Developing Countries (IGDC), Asian Group of Developing Countries (AGDC) and the Chair of various committees. The Philippines participates in the Joint Statement Initiatives on E-commerce, Investment Facilitation for Development, and Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA). The Philippines also accepted the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies in 2024.

We note the submission of over 800 notifications by the Philippines during the review period, reflecting significant efforts, but the recent notifications on agriculture are outstanding. In respect of tariff bindings, approximately 64 percent of the Philippines' tariff lines are bound, there remains scope for improving the overall binding coverage.

Looking forward, we hope that the Philippines will continue to support the rule-based multilateral trading system and committed to openness and transparency.

We appreciate the Philippines' efforts to respond to our questions timely.

We wish the sixth TPR of the Philippines a success!

Thank you, Chair.