ASEAN seeks UNDP aid for free trade area
ASEAN seeks UNDP aid for free trade area
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) yesterday sought assistance from the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to facilitate its implementation of
a free trade area.
The UNDP, at its first-ever dialogue with the regional
grouping, agreed to help ASEAN foster closer economic integration
among its members in preparation for the ASEAN Free Trade Area
(AFTA), said ASEAN Secretary-General Ajit Singh.
"We have also adopted a recommendation that growth triangles
should be incorporated into the UNDP's programs to find ways to
establish such areas in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (Burma)," Ajit
was reported as saying by Bernama news agency.
ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, are to accept
Cambodia and Laos as full members next year, while it evaluates
the full membership of Burma, which was accorded observer status
in July.
Afta aims to lower tariffs on all goods in the region to a
maximum five percent by 2003.
The average ASEAN tariff rate is expected to decrease from 7.1
percent in 1996 to 2.7 percent when AFTA is created, officials
said.
Vietnam, which joined ASEAN last year, has been given leeway
until 2006 to match the tariff cuts of the more mature economies.
Ajit said a joint management committee would also be formed
comprising ASEAN members, the UNDP and the ASEAN secretariat, to
look into various project operations, programs and financing in
the region.
The committee would be chaired by ASEAN's director-general,
Abdul Majid Khan of Malaysia, he added.
The UNDP is ASEAN's 11th dialogue partner and the only multi-
lateral regional body to have that status, apart from the
European Union, which is an inter-governmental body, he said.
"I believe the UNDP is in a unique position to assist ASEAN as
it has no hidden agenda and seeks only to assist ASEAN reach
higher levels of development and cooperation," Ajit said.
From an initial allocation of US$2 million, ASEAN has to date
received more than US$30 million from the UNDP in technical
assistance, he added.