ASEAN ready to ease burden of tariff-cut plan<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Agencies): Southeast Asian leaders are poised to
\nsign an agreement giving flexibility to some countries having
\ntrouble meeting tariff-cutting measures that are part of an
\neffort to achieve a regional free trade area by 2002.<\/p>\n
The agreement would help countries like Malaysia, which had
\nexpressed concern that the tariff-cutting plan would damage its
\nburgeoning auto sector and national car maker Perusahaan Otomobil
\nNasional Bhd., or Proton.<\/p>\n
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) released a
\ndraft of the protocol Wednesday in advance of a formal signing
\nscheduled for Thursday at the group's annual informal summit, Dow
\nJones reported.<\/p>\n
The protocol modifies the Common Effective Preferential Tariff
\nscheme signed by the ASEAN leaders in Singapore in 1992. The
\nscheme is an integral part of the group's goal of achieving an
\nAsean Free Trade Area, or AFTA, by 2002.<\/p>\n
In November 1998 ASEAN leaders decided to accelerate their
\nfree trade push, agreeing to drop tariffs on each other's
\nproducts by zero to 5 percent on at least 85 percent of the
\nproducts on their \"inclusion lists\" by 2000, on 90 percent by
\n2001 and on all such products by 2002.<\/p>\n
One year later the leaders agreed to eliminate all import
\nduties by 2010 for the original six AFTA participants, and by
\n2015 for the four newer Asean members.<\/p>\n
At the behest of countries like Malaysia, Asean economic
\nministers in May decided to allow \"limited flexibility\" in the
\nimplementation of the tariff-elimination scheme.<\/p>\n
The protocol will allow a country to delay transfer of a
\nproduct from its temporary exclusion list to an inclusion list or
\nto temporarily suspend its concession on a product already
\ntransferred to the inclusion list.<\/p>\n
The stated goal of ASEAN leaders attending the summit is to
\nachieve greater regional cooperation in both trade and finance.<\/p>\n
In the financial arena, the leaders are expected to push
\nforward with plans to enlarge a network of bilateral currency
\nswap arrangements that would make foreign exchange reserves
\navailable to member countries suffering balance of payments
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
The leaders also are expected to discuss establishing a
\nbilateral swap program between Japan, China, South Korea and
\nASEAN member nations.<\/p>\n
Malaysian and Thai officials will meet next month to discuss
\ncompensation owed by Kuala Lumpur for delaying tariff cuts in its
\nauto sector, a top Thai official said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Boontipa Simaskul, Thailand's director of Business Economics,
\nministry of commerce said the December 14-15 meeting would also
\ntry to iron out Malaysia's difficulties in the auto industry.<\/p>\n
\"We are now asking Malaysia for their submissions on their
\ndifficulties,\" she told AFP on the sidelines of the Association
\nof Southeast Asian Nations meeting here.<\/p>\n
Bilateral deals<\/p>\n
Manila's assistant trade secretary Jose Antonio Buencamino
\nsaid regional and bilateral agreements threatened the
\nsignificance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) while its own free trade area (AFTA) was some years off.<\/p>\n
\"If ASEAN wants to be significant then ASEAN needs to be a
\nstrong free trade area as well,\" Buencamino told AFP.<\/p>\n
ASEAN needed to \"show aggressiveness\" in pursing an AFTA
\n\"because if not we will be left behind\"<\/p>\n
Buencamino is attending an ASEAN senior officials meeting here
\nahead of a leaders' summit on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
In the agenda-less forum, the issue of free trade agreements
\nis expected to be repeatedly raised, as some countries point the
\nfinger at host Singapore for breaking ranks and negotiating
\nagreements outside the region.<\/p>\n
The Bernama news agency quoted Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed
\nHamid Albar as saying ASEAN members must work towards
\nstrengthening the relevance of the organization which groups
\nBrunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
\nMyanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
\"When we do something outside the ASEAN context which could
\nweaken the organization, we must think twice,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Singapore has just concluded an FTA with New Zealand and is
\nnegotiating others with Japan, Australia, the United States,
\nCanada and Mexico.<\/p>\n
Buencamino said the pursuit of FTAs was a problem which ASEAN
\nhad to resolve.<\/p>\n
\"If we want to be a significant player in this phenomenon of
\nFTAs ... then we have to be more aggressive. We should stick to
\nthe AFTA schedule.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, China has signaled its willingness to explore a
\nfree-trade pact with the ASEAN in a sign it has overcome earlier
\nreservations over bilateral and regional free trade agreements
\n(FTAs), a published report said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
An official in charge of multilateral affairs in the Chinese
\nForeign Ministry's Asian Department made the disclosure to The
\nStraits Times ahead of Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Singapore
\nthis week to meet with his ASEAN counterparts, Deutsche Presse
\nAgentur (DPA) reported.<\/p>\n
\"There are now more than 100 regional and bilateral FTAs in
\nthe world,\" the official, who spoke on the condition of
\nanonymity, was quoted as saying.<\/p>",
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