2010 brings ASEAN economies closer

VGP – For ASEAN, 2010 will be a year of significance when many member-economies have completed lifting their tariff lines and the bloc’s FTA with partners come into force.

April 07, 2010 5:02 PM GMT+7

ASEAN Economic Ministers at the 3^rd meeting of the ASEAN Economic Community, Hà Nội, April 7, 2010 - Photo: VGP/Nhật Bắc

The 3^rd meeting of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vũ Huy Hoàng.

According to Minister Hoàng, since the endorsement of the AEC Blueprint in 2007, the bloc has made great progresses in implementing the AEC. So far, ASEAN-6 has fully lifted 99.65% of their tariff lines while CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Việt Nam) already reached 98.86% of tariff lines at 0-5% under the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs for ASEAN Free Trade Area (CEPT-AFTA).

Also in 2010, ASEAN sees the coming into force of its free trade agreements with China (ACFTA), Republic of Korea (AKFTA), Australia-New Zealand (AANZFTA) and India (AIFTA).

Mr. Hoàng said that the AEC Meeting would focus on approving important documents to be submitted to the 16^th ASEAN Summit on April 8–9, including the AEC Council’s report; the economic section in the ASEAN President’s report; and the Leaders’ Statement on recovery and sustainable development.

The agenda also covered the implementation of the AEC Blueprint, especially in goods, services, investment.

By Xuân Hồng