The Philippines and the United Kingdom are firming up a regionalization agreement for African swine fever (ASF) to sustain the pork trade despite disease outbreaks.
During the second Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting last Tuesday, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Allan Gepty and UK Minister of State for Trade Anas Sarwar underscored the ‘robust’ collaboration between the two nations for the agriculture sector.
They pointed to the support provided by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and its UK counterpart, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), to develop regionalization guidelines for ASF in the Philippines, which would be ‘vital for protections of UK pork exports.’
Securing a regionalization agreement means the UK can continue to export pork products to the Philippines from specific areas proven to be free of the deadly hog disease, even if outbreaks occur elsewhere within its borders.
This deviates from imposing a country-wide ban, which the DA said could disrupt trade and prompt an increase in prices, thus ensuring more stable and diversified supplies.
At present, the UK has only been granted a bilateral regionalization for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) or bird flu.
Government data showed that the UK exported 19,918 metric tons (MT) of pork to the Philippines in 2025.
Gepty and Sarwar said both agencies are also working on capacity building on precision breeding, anti-microbial resistance, fisheries, and food safety, among others.
Against this backdrop, they agreed to continue their collaboration in facilitating market access for key agricultural exports and expanding cooperation to aquaculture, biotechnology, animal and plant health, and climate-resilient agriculture.
With this, Manila and London are set to ink a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on agriculture, trade, and cooperation. This will consolidate all agricultural initiatives under a dedicated framework.
‘More than export, it’s very important that we have collaboration with our partners in the United Kingdom when it comes to smart agriculture,’ Gepty said.
‘We look forward to formalizing our collaboration and partnership on certain identified areas or sub-sectors in moving forward a strong agri-sector market in the UK.’