Business

Saturday August 15, 2009

Asean FTA a reality on Jan 1


BANGKOK: Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will be a complete Free Trade Area (FTA) by Jan 1, but several issues related to non-tariff barriers are hampering full implementation.

The Asean Economic Ministers meeting here expressed satisfaction with the progress in the implementation of the tariff reduction programme under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme which began in 1993.

The ministers agreed that from Jan 1, import duties for Asean members would no longer be a barrier to intra-Asean trade. – Bernama

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