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.