GPA and the Philippines: Likely or unlikely?

Although the Republic of the Philippines (Philippines) has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995 and a member of the General Agreement of Tariff and Trade (GATT) since 1979, it is still not a party to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the world’s leading agreement for opening public procurement markets. In March 2018, the WTO conducted its 5th review of the Philippines’ trade policies and practices. It noted the need for further procurement reforms and concerns with the market access conditions for foreign suppliers in public procurement. In order to gain a better understanding of the GPA, the Philippines submitted its request to become an observer in the Committee on Government Procurement (‘Committee’) on May 6, 2019,5 which was accepted by the Committee on 26 June 2019. This paper assesses some of the most important challenges to the Philippines accession to the GPA.