ASEAN discusses customs

ASEAN discusses customs

HANOI (AFP): Customs officials from the seven ASEAN states began two days of talks in Hanoi yesterday on streamlining procedures and implementing a free trade agreement, a Vietnamese official said.

On the agenda is a customs agreement to be signed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a common customs declaration system, priorities in drafting regulations and publication of each country's regulations.

ASEAN nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- are to reduce tariffs on a wide range of goods under the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement.

Most members are to comply by the measures by 2003 but Vietnam has been allowed to delay its implementation by three years. Prospective new ASEAN members such as Burma, Cambodia and Laos are also expected to lag behind their more developed neighbors.

Foreign investors here hope Vietnam will come under pressure from other countries in ASEAN to improve its customs and trading procedures which are currently opaque and inconsistent.