China, ASEAN to start cutting duties in 2005

China, ASEAN to start cutting duties in 2005

China and 10 Southeast Asian countries will start cutting import duties next July as part of a plan to form a free-trade zone by 2010, said Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair.

China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, will sign a trade accord at a meeting in Laos on Nov. 29, Jakropob told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Ubon Ratchathani province, about 600 kilometers northeast of Bangkok.

China and ASEAN agreed to boost trade by removing tariffs on two-way commerce. The free-trade area will be the biggest in the world by population, encompassing 1.7 billion people. The combined gross domestic product of China and the 10 ASEAN members is US$2 trillion.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other cabinet ministers, who met in Ubon Ratchathani today, authorized Commerce Minister Wattana Muangsook to sign the accord, said Jakrapob. China and ASEAN originally planed to start cutting duties from Jan. 1, 2005, according to the Thai commerce ministry's Web site.

The 10 members of ASEAN are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Under the plan, the four newer members of Asean -- Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos -- will have until 2015 to give Chinese products duty-free access to their markets.

China and Asean traded $78.2 billion of goods in 2003, up 42.8 percent from 2002, Xinhua reported. Through the first nine months of this year, the two traded $75.4 billion worth of goods, up 35.6 percent year on year, Xinhua reported. Trade between China and Asean may reach $100 billion in 2004, Xinhua said.

Southeast Asian trade ministers have called for eliminating tariffs on traded goods with Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand in a bid to expand the region's $430 billion of annual exports and $20 billion of inward investment. -- Bloomberg