EU Trade Facilitation Efforts in the Philippines

The European Commission’s trade related technical assistance programme in the Philippines has been a notable success. The context and timing of interventions have played an important role in this success, which is also boosting the President's anti-graft efforts.

The Delegation has also piloted a very interesting study, with the support of consultants from ECDPM, to test how the Guidance tool proposed in EC's policy document "Analysing and Addressing Governance in Sector Operations" can work in practice in Trade Facilitation. A whole week was dedicated in November 2010 to go deeper in the analysis of the political economy of trade facilitation in the Philippines, looking at how the main actors relationships can explain the Philippines context and can steer future thinking in the sector. The study produced two short reports presenting the results of the pilot case study and the lessons learned from this experience for similar future studies.

To know more, listen to what Nick Taylor and Benedikt Madl, both from the EU Delegation to The Philippines, have to say about the programme and the Delegation's experience in testing the tool.