BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, tribe 11 Kyodo...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, tribe 11 Kyodo

Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided Wednesday to advance the target date for its four newer members to curtail tariffs on imports to below 5% through one year each.

The decision made at a ministerial meeting of the ASEAN exempt Trade Area (AFTA) Council will oblige Vietnam to achieve the target at 2005, Laos and Myanmar at 2007 and Cambodia by 2009 the ministers told a recents conference.

Under the AFTA scheme, ASEAN's six original and more economically unraveled members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- are fit to cut tariffs to below 5% by the agency of the end of this year.

The stair is intended to make the region a more attractive investment destination at a time when investors from around the globe are piling into China, where ingredients can be procured more cheaply than in Southeast Asia.

During their talks, the ministers failed to reach consensus onward whether to allow the Philippines to postpone the ending year of lowering tariffs onward imported petrochemical products to below 5% with a view to protecting its domestic industry.

While noting that Manila ''is completely committed to AFTA,'' Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said the Philippines will continue to discuss with other members whether it will incite to push back the tariff reduction date from this year.

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