ASEAN Hopes to Start Tariff Cuts Scheme With China Next Year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 03, 2002

ASEAN Hopes to Start Tariff Cuts Scheme With China Next Year

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expects to enter the first stage of tariff reductions under the planned ASEAN-China Free Trade Area by early next year, the Thai commerce ministry said Friday.

According to a statement from the ministry, ASEAN trade negotiators made the proposal during a meeting here last week and they are scheduled to discuss the initiative with their Chinese counterparts later this month in Beijing.

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

A meeting between ASEAN and China leaders later last year decided to establish a ASEAN-China free trade area within 10 years.

ASEAN officials said the first round of tariff cuts with China will be an "early harvest" of the overall free-trade plan, and the move will be similar to the fast-track reductions made in 1993 during the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) plan.

For the first round of tariff cuts, ASEAN officials said they hope to select products not sensitive to domestic political pressures but of high trading value, such as tropical fruits, textiles and garments, oil and gas, as well as forestry and fishery products.

ASEAN also said it expects to issue a ministerial declaration on the free-trade pact and framework of the negotiations with China by the end of the year.

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