PHL Declines €6.1M EU Trade Aid

The Philippines has formally declined to accept €6.1 million or around P380 million in trade-related assistance from the European Union. The EU ambassador confirmed that the financial agreements for the Trade-Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) were returned by the Philippine government at the end of 2017. This TRTA program, which the EU has supported for a decade, helps fund capacity development programs at the Department of Trade and Industry. In addition, the Philippines is poised to reject around €40 million in renewable energy aid from the EU meant for solar power projects in Mindanao. The Philippine government rejected the assistance due to references to "rule of law," "democracy," and "human rights" in the TRTA documents, though

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PHL Declines €6.1M EU Trade Aid

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PHL rejects €6.

1-M EU trade-
related assistance
Published January 24, 2018 6:33pm
By TED CORDERO, GMA News

The Philippines has formally declined to accept €6.1 million or around P380
million in aid from the European Union (EU), EU Ambassador to the
Philippines Franz Jessen confirmed on Wednesday.

“It was formalized after they returned the financial agreements of the TRTA
that should be signed by end of the year,” Jessen told GMA News Online in a
phone interview.

The TRTA or Trade-Related Technical Assistance the Philippine government

discontinued is the fourth in a series, which the “EU has been supporting for a
decade,” Jessen noted.

During a forum in Manila, the EU envoy said the TRTA that the Philippines
rejected at the end of 2017 amounted to €6.1 million.

“The TRTA is an EU-funded project for the DTI (Department of Trade and
Industry) to help finance its programs for capacity development, help them
organize trade conferences,” Jessen said.

He said the Philippines is also about to reject around €40 million in aid for
renewable energy projects, particularly for constructing solar power plants in
Mindanao.

“The next that could be rejected are renewable energy-related aid amounting
to around €40 million ... This is for building solar power in Mindanao,” Jessen
said.

In October last year, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the
Department of Foreign Affairs will formally convey to the EU the
government’s decision to decline aid from the political and economic union of
member states.

President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly lambasted the EU for attaching

conditions to its assistance, such as imposing human rights regulations in
exchange for money.

During the forum in Manila, Janssen said the Philippine government rejected
the assistance due to words like “rule of law,” “democracy,” and “human
rights” in the TRTA documents.

Nevertheless, Jessen said the EU respects the decision.

“We respect their decision. It’s important that we don’t have any
misunderstanding, but it’s, at the end of the day, for them to decide,” he
said. —VDS, GMA News