At the second UK-Philippines Joint Economic and Trade Committee on 22 September 2026, ministers agreed a refreshed programme of work to be carried out over the next 12 to 18 months. The meeting in Metro Manila was led by UK Trade Minister Anas Sarwar and Philippines Undersecretary Allan B. Gepty, according to the joint statement published by the UK government. The document matters less for headline tariff change than for delivery. It places established sector working groups at the centre of the bilateral process, with government bodies and private sector partners expected to turn agreed priorities into projects across agriculture, energy, infrastructure and wider economic development.
In agriculture, the statement points to a technical partnership with direct market access consequences. Officials cited work between the Philippines Department of Agriculture and the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on precision breeding, anti-microbial resistance, fisheries and food safety, alongside support for Philippine regionalisation guidelines on African Swine Fever. That detail has clear commercial value. Regionalisation rules can allow disease controls to be applied more precisely, which matters for the protection of UK pork exports. Both sides also agreed to continue work on access for priority agricultural goods and to widen cooperation into aquaculture, biotechnology, animal and plant health, and climate-resilient agriculture. A planned memorandum of understanding on agriculture trade and cooperation would bring those strands under a dedicated framework.
Energy was presented as a shared policy challenge shaped by transition plans and security of supply. The joint statement confirms continued UK support for offshore wind regulation and policy in the Philippines, alongside efforts to promote market opportunities linked to port development. The next phase goes further than wind alone. Officials will scope cooperation on civil nuclear energy, including radioactive waste management, and consider work on grid modernisation through smart grids and microgrids. For departments and regulators, that points to a programme centred on rule-making, system resilience and project preparation rather than broad diplomatic signalling.
In infrastructure, the most concrete step is the Financing Framework due to be signed on 23 September 2026. According to the statement, that framework will allow UK Export Finance, the UK's export credit agency, to consider support for priority Philippine government infrastructure projects, with up to £5 billion of capacity available for eligible schemes. The statement also records progress under the Growth and Investment Partnerships Framework, particularly on feasibility studies and policy work intended to move projects towards procurement. Alongside that, the Philippines noted UK interest in renegotiating the Double Taxation Agreement so that it reflects current international standards and present economic conditions. The result is a two-track agenda: project finance on one side, and the tax and legal conditions for investment on the other.
The economic development chapter is broader, but still framed around delivery. Both governments said key cooperation activities had been completed on cybersecurity, health technology assessment, regulatory reform and consumer protection, while new work has started to increase Philippine use of the UK's Developing Countries Trading Scheme. For exporters, that is a significant point. The DCTS is the UK's preference scheme for eligible developing countries, and the joint statement says the Philippines recorded a 68 per cent utilisation rate in 2025. Ministers said there is room to raise that figure, helped by more liberal rules of origin for garments and by practical measures such as trade promotion, business matchmaking and technical exchanges on UK market access requirements.
The programme also leaves space for new sectors. Space and trade digitalisation have been identified as emerging areas, and both sides said the work plan would remain open to revision as priorities develop. Senior officials will also continue regular exchanges on regional and multilateral trade issues, including economic security and green sector development. That wider setting matters because the bilateral relationship is no longer marginal. Total UK-Philippines trade in goods and services reached £3.1 billion in the four quarters to the end of the first quarter of 2026, made up of £1.3 billion in UK exports and £1.8 billion in UK imports, according to the joint statement.
Regional institutions featured prominently throughout the statement. Marking the fifth anniversary of the ASEAN-UK Dialogue Partnership in 2026, both sides welcomed an updated work plan and a new Joint Ministerial Declaration issued at the sixth ASEAN Economic Ministers-UK Consultation. The Philippines also noted UK support for one of its priority economic deliverables under its 2026 ASEAN chairship, focused on establishing an ASEAN Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries. The Philippines further congratulated the UK on completing its Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership accession process with Canada on 1 September 2026, thereby completing its accession with all CPTPP parties. Manila also recorded its appreciation for UK support for a Philippine application to establish a CPTPP accession working group. Before the committee session, Sarwar and Gepty also held a roundtable with business leaders on barriers, opportunities and investment priorities, with the joint statement presenting that government-business channel as part of how future work will be shaped.