Cambodia gears for AFTA

Cambodia gears for AFTA

PHNOM PENH (Reuters): Cambodia is committed to cutting tariffs
in line with ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) requirements and is
making progress in reducing reliance on import taxes, Minister of
Commerce Cham Prasidh said on Tuesday.

Cambodia, which joined the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) in April, has 10 years to slash tariffs on most
goods to a maximum five percent in line with the group's free
trade rules.

"The goal is to ensure that we lower all the tariff barriers
for all products," Cham Prasidh told Reuters at a ministry
seminar on AFTA.

"We are going to move in the same line as other ASEAN members
have done so far. There would be less and less tariff lines in
the temporary exclusion list and also in the general exception
list," he said.

He said Cambodia would this week present ASEAN with details of
its tariff reduction plans and detail which items would be on the
various AFTA lists which enable countries to exclude temporarily
items from the tariff-cut plan.

Cham Prasidh also said Cambodia was making progress in weaning
itself off an over-reliance on import taxes.