UK Ambassador Asif A. Ahmad told reporters that the Philippines would be the first ASEAN member that the UK’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox MP would be visiting as part of a three-legged tour also covering Malaysia and Indonesia.

Ahmad said UK’s trade chief would be in the Philippines on 3-4 April as a sign of support to the Philippines’ chairmanship of ASEAN.

Apart from this, Fox’s arrival was also meant “to explain Brexit, which means Britain will be engaging more with countries like the Philippines,” said Ahmad. This would reassure the Philippines there would be a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK in the future, he said. This would still depend, however, on the ongoing negotiations between the Philippines and the European Union for another FTA.

“Before we leave the EU, we are not allowed to negotiate a bilateral FTA, but afterwards we are going to line up a whole series of these. It really depends on how mature the EU FTA negotiation with the Philippines is. If by the time it’s finished, then of course, we would adopt it as it is,” he said.

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