New ASEAN states looking to join AFTA

New ASEAN states looking to join AFTA

JAKARTA (JP): Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are to submit their
inclusion list of products for the Common Effective Preferential
Tariffs (CEPT) scheme when they are admitted into the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July.

The presentation of the CEPT inclusion list is one of the
first steps taken to join the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).

"As a result of the very close contact and assistance we at
the secretariat have been giving, we have helped them to draft
the initial package offer for the CEPT products," ASEAN Secretary
General Dato Ajit Singh said here yesterday.

He added that the three countries had already submitted an
indicative inclusion list to ASEAN senior economic officials in
April.

"They are supposed to give us the final inclusion list the day
they join ASEAN," Singh said here yesterday.

ASEAN is a socioeconomic organization which comprises Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.

The CEPT is the main instrument designed to make ASEAN a free
trade area by 2003. Through the scheme, tariffs of all
manufactured goods will be reduced to 5 percent or less.
Agricultural products are excluded from the CEPT scheme.

Under the CEPT scheme each ASEAN member draws up a product
list whereby goods are divided into: inclusion list, temporary
exclusion list, sensitive list and the general exception list.

According to Ajit Singh the prospective members have decided
to submit the final product list by the 29th ASEAN Ministerial
Meeting in October.

As new members, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have a 10-year
grace period starting in 1998 before they are fully integrated
into AFTA in 2008.

Ajit claimed that all three countries are currently doing
their utmost to meet these requirements.

"As far as this AFTA is concerned the preparations they have
been undertaking has been quite extensive. In fact they have been
working so hard that I'm told that in many of their ministries
they've left work aside and are concentrating on fulfilling the
various obligations under AFTA," he said.

Myanmar and Laos seem the readiest to comply with the CEPT
scheme.

Sixty-eight percent of Myanmar's tariff lines are at 5 percent
or less while Laos' has half of its tariff lines at that same
level.

Cambodia has only 3.5 percent of its tariff lines at the
required 5 percent or less level.

However nearly 45 percent of their tariff level stands at
between 6 to 10 percent.

Of the three, only Myanmar is a member of the World Trade
Organization.

Ajit Singh yesterday also confirmed that a meeting of ASEAN
economic ministers will be held here next week.

The special half-day meeting was called to draft an economic
vision for the grouping in the next century. (mds)

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