THE Philippines has signed on to a global agreement aimed at facilitating investments and is already looking at ways to implement the deal, the Trade department said on Tuesday.

The country is one of 123 World Trade Organization (WTO) members that have agreed to adopt the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) agreement, which was finalized at the sidelines of an ongoing WTO meeting in Abu Dhabi.

"I am confident that the increased transparency provisions and facilitation measures in the IFD Agreement will create a more predictable and stable investment environment around the world," Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said in a statement.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual

"In the Philippines, we have started our needs-assessment exercise with assistance from the International Trade Center," he added.

The Trade department said that special and differential treatment provisions in the IFD would give signatories the "flexibility to self-categorize their commitments."

Pascual was said to have noted that the Philippines had conducted capacity-building sessions and technical consultations to identify areas for improvement to attract more investments.

Trade ministers that represented the 123 countries are pushing for the inclusion of the IFD into the Marrakesh Agreement, the 1994 deal that established the WTO.

"We will continue doing our part in encouraging more WTO members to partake in our shared goal of maximizing the benefits of the IFD agreement," Pascual said.

The IFD deal is the WTO's second investment-related agreement following the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures.

It is a plurilateral deal, binding only on those members that accept it, but is still open to all WTO members.

WITH A REPORT FROM PNA