ABOUT

The Foreign Agriculture Service Corps (FASC) post in Geneva was established in 1996 under the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and other International Organizations. Subsequently, a separate Philippine Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO PM) was created in 2004, which included FASC Geneva. The post is the official representative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) which handles agriculture and fisheries related matters in the WTO and relevant international organizations based in Switzerland.

Trade Policy and Negotiations

Guided by the DA and WTO PM, the Office of the Agriculture Counsellor (OAC) in Geneva serves mainly as a policy post, responsible for the negotiations as well as policy advocacy and representations in various WTO bodies and committees handling agriculture and fisheries matters.

Moreover, OAC Geneva is also involved in agriculture and fisheries-related matters in other intergovernmental bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) for Codex Alimentarius and food safety standards, and the World Intellectual Propety Organization (WIPO) for issues pertinent to intellectual property and geographic indication. 

Trade and Investment Promotion

The post is also engaged in bilateral and plurilateral trade and investments, such as in the negotiation and implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, and participation in trade promotion activities in Switzerland.

LINKS

Philippine Mission to the WTO: https://wtopm.dfa.gov.ph/
Philippine Mission to the UN and other International Organizations: https://wtopm.dfa.gov.ph/
World Trade Organization: https://www.wto.org/

KEY OFFICIAL

MARLITO C. CABUÑOS
Assistant Agriculture Attaché
Officer-in-Charge – Agriculture Counsellor
m.cabunos@philippineswto.org

OFFICE OF THE AGRICULTURE COUNSELLOR
PERMANENT MISSION OF THE PHILIPPINES TO THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
16 Allee David-Morse
1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +4122 9097900
agriculture@philippineswto.org