ASEAN to hold tariff talks

ASEAN to hold tariff talks

BANGKOK (Reuters): Trade ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Thailand in October to tighten procedures for granting concessions from free trade rules, officials said on Wednesday.

Thai commerce ministry officials said ASEAN ministers would meet in the northern city of Chiang Mai on Oct. 5-7 to adopt rules governing delays in tariff cuts by its members.

ASEAN agreed in May to consider a Malaysian request to maintain protective tariffs for its auto industry until January 1, 2005.

Under its ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) scheme, ASEAN members have agreed to cut tariffs, including those on cars, to between zero and five percent by 2003.

Thai officials said the rules on granting concessions would be based on article 28 of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), due to an absence of a regulatory framework under AFTA.

The officials said the Chiang Mai meeting would also explore the e-ASEAN initiative and increased liberalization of the 10- member group's existing information technology agreement.

They said ASEAN ministers would hold separate trade talks in Chiang Mai with counterparts from Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

"These trade linkage talks will mostly touch on cooperation and assistance between ASEAN and these other countries," a Thai official preparing for the meeting said.

She said ASEAN ministers would also seek to push for progress in setting up an AFTA-CER (AFTA-Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations) free trade area.

The official said some ASEAN members, including Malaysia, held the view that the AFTA-CER concept required more viability studies and its implementation could probably wait until AFTA itself strengthens its cooperation.

"Some members have reservations about the concept due to the current relatively low volume of trade between ASEAN and Australia and New Zealand," she said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia , Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.