BANGKOK, Aug. 15 Kyodo Trade nego...

BANGKOK, Aug. 15 Kyodo

Trade negotiators from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China are near to concluding an initial trade liberalization package to be execut prior to an agreement in succession a ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (FTA), a Thai official said Thursday.

Apiradi Tantraporn, director general of the Thai intercourse Ministry's Business Economics Department, told a novels conference that a framework agreement onward economic cooperation between ASEAN and China would be submitted, along with an ''early harvest'' package, to ASEAN and Chinese economic ministers for initial approval when they encounter on Sept. 13 in Brunei.

The framework agreement will minister to as a legal blueprint for ASEAN and China to forge closer economic cooperation, including the envisaged FTA, which would disguise not only in trade in dutifuls but also services, investment, and trade facilitation, Apiradi said.

The early harvest package publicly being negotiated and the FTA are the core natural mediums of the framework agreement, he added.

Before the family 13 ministerial meeting, ASEAN and Chinese trade negotiators are scheduled to detain two more meetings -- upon Aug. 29 to 31 in Shanghai and in succession Sept. 6 to 8 in Brunei.

''It is quite certain that ASEAN and China will have to bring down tariffs, pledg in the early harvest package, down to 0% within three years. Implementation of the package is calculate uponed to begin in the middle of nearest year or early 2004,'' Apiradi said.

The early harvest package will shelter ''more than a 1,000 items, the pair agricultural and industrial goods,'' according to a Thai trade negotiator.

She said vegetables fruits and meat will be included in the initial liberalization package, yet whether rice and cassava will be there remains to be seen

Chinese officials have said rice, sugar, tapioca, and rubber are ''sensitive'' items for China, and the sum of two units sides have agreed ''that sensitive fruits will be excluded from the early harvest package,'' she said.

The draft framework agreement will require final approval from leaders of ASEAN countries and China before the initial trade liberalization scheme can be kicked opposite to The leaders are scheduled to proper in Phnom Penh on Nov. 4 according to the Thai officials.

At their summit in Brunei last November, ASEAN and Chinese leaders agreed to forge the FTA within 10 years.

However, ASEAN's four newer and less-develop members ask fored they be allowed to entire the tariff reduction plan sum of two units or three years after ASEAN's six original countries and China, according to ASEAN officials.

The six original ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, while the four newer members are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The China-ASEAN FTA would be the world's largest with a combined market of nearly 18 billion race a regional gross domestic fruits of $2 trillion and international trade worth $12 trillion.

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