ASEAN speeds up free trade

ASEAN speeds up free trade

MANILA (Agencies): Southeast Asian nations Sunday announced
they will further speed up a free-trade program and expand
cooperation with northern neighbors as the region moved to
strengthen its rebound from a recession.

Summit host Philippine President Joseph Estrada in a closing
statement said ASEAN's six original members will eliminate import
duties on most goods traded in the region by 2010, five years
ahead of schedule.

The accelerated zero-tariff plan covers Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The four newer and less developed members -- Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar and Vietnam -- plan to do the same by 2015, three years
earlier than planned.

The tariff cutting is aimed at creating a free-trading zone in
the region of more than 500 million people, with a long-term goal
of establishing a European-style common market with a single
currency.

By Jan. 1, 2000, 90 percent of goods due for tariff reduction
in ASEAN will have import duties of five percent or less.

Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab said the move had come
at Singapore's request to speed the development of the ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA).

"Singapore suggested moving the AFTA deadline forward to
2015," he said. He added that it had also sought to speed other
"bold reform measures" for trade and investment outlined in an
ASEAN agreement reached last December in Hanoi, but that Vietnam,
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos had objected, arguing they needed more
time to prepare their economies.

"The leaders accepted the first proposal, but not the second,"
Shihab said.

The agreement was reached despite signs at the summit that
some ASEAN members were backsliding on near-term commitments to
open their markets.