The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is trying to win over ''seven to eight senators'' to ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's biggest free trade area.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez told a forum on Saturday that the Philippines is the only country has not ratified RCEP, which went into force on January 1, 2022.

''What we are trying to do now is working hard, trying to give a briefing with the senators that would still have questions because that is the concern of about seven to eight senators that would still want to study further,'' said Lopez.

''We have given many materials and gave individual briefings with them. so hopefully, we will be able to finish those so we can have this ratified when they resume on May 23, he added.

Lopez said President Rodrigo Duterte is hoping that the Senate would ratify the RCEP before it adjourns in June.

The trade chief said delay in ratifying RCEP does not mean '' not only losing investors but market shares that we have.

'All the other participating countries will get to enjoy already the faster trade and investors will move into these countries. They will skip Philippines because they know that when they invest into these participating countries, they have better access in the RCEP market which is about one third of the world's trade size,'' explained Lopez.

Lopez added that ''even those markets we already have, meaning for example we are already the biggest banana exporter to Korea or other countries, we might even lose that because we will be surpassed, overtaken by other countries in supplying those markets.''

According to data by the World Bank, the agreement would cover 2.3 billion people or 30% of the world’s population, contribute $ 25.8 trillion about 30 percent of global GDP, and account for $ 12.7 trillion, over a quarter of global trade in goods and services, and 31 percent of global FDI inflows, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said in its website. DMS