| By Azlan Othman
Brunei is among the six
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which have taken
a major step towards a free trade zone, slashing import tariffs
to under 5% for most products, Asean Secretariat said on
Thursday.
The six key Asean members,
Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the
Philippines have agreed to put a 5% cap on imports from within
the 10-member group effective Jan 1, 2003.
According to the latest annual
report issued by the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta, Brunei joined
five other original Asean members in making a milestone in Asean
economic cooperation in 2002.
The first six signatories to
the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA), Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have substantially
achieved the aim of reducing tariffs in the region to 0-5% on
almost all of their products under the Common Effective
Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme.
Accounting for over 96% of all
Asean trade, the first six signatories of the CEPT for the AFTA
have reduced their tariffs on intra-regional trade to no more
than 5% for almost all products in the inclusion list or remove
them all together.
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