Ramos wants GATT ratified

Ramos wants GATT ratified

MANILA (Reuter): President Fidel Ramos and a top businessman on Wednesday urged the Philippine Senate to ratify the new GATT world trade treaty, saying failure to do so would spell disaster.

Ramos brushed aside fears that domestic industries will perish if the country adopts freer trade and warned the local economy would be isolated unless the Philippines accepted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

He told a national business conference that some sectors would be adversely affected but said there is enough time for industry to adjust to the more open trading system GATT is meant to introduce.

"If the country's business leaders and economic decision- makers don't adapt to the ever-changing economic environment, we shall follow the way of the dinosaur, that is, economic extinction," added Herman Montenegro, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"We cannot afford to delay ratification if we want to benefit from the Uruguay Round and promote our overall economic interests," Ramos said.