'ASEAN won't create closed trading bloc'

'ASEAN won't create closed trading bloc'

JAKARTA (JP): Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Secretary-General Dato Ajit Singh asserted yesterday that greater
integration of the group's economic activities would not create a
closed trading bloc.

Speaking before a seminar on "Latin America and the Caribbean:
Economic Outlook and Opportunities" at the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies, Singh said in this age of high
economic competition, member states are conscious of the need to
continuously expand their economic activities.

"Thus, ASEAN may have no alternative but to move beyond closer
economic cooperation towards greater economic integration," he
said.

However, he assured participants at the seminar that such an
integration would not evolve into a "fortress ASEAN" or a closed
trading bloc.

"What is certain at this stage is that even as ASEAN moves
closer together, it remains committed to the principle of open
regionalism," he said.

Formed in 1967, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It is expected
that within the next year, the three remaining countries in
Southeast Asia -- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- will also be
admitted.

In its economic cooperation, the regional grouping has
established an ASEAN Free Trade Area (Afta) which hopes to cut
down import duties on various goods specified in their "inclusion
list" to a maximum of 5 percent by the year 2003.

Singh maintained that despite the establishment of this
regional trade arrangement, ASEAN remains open to cooperation
with other trading regimes.

"ASEAN member countries do not discriminate as severely as
other countries against non-ASEAN member countries as far as
trade is concerned," he said.

Singh then elaborated that an analysis of the Most Favored
Nation (MFN) and Common Effective Preferential Treatment (CEPT)
tariff rates in ASEAN would show that in almost half the tariff
lines, there was no difference between the CEPT and the MFN
rates.

"ASEAN is ready to form cross linkages with other regional
trading arrangements in order to facilitate trade and reduce non-
tariff barriers," he said.

One such example is the close work being conducted with
Australia and New Zealand's Closer Economic Relations in areas
such as information exchange, customs matters and investment
facilitation and information.

"ASEAN is ready to extend the same cooperation to other
regional trading arrangements," Singh remarked. (mds)