AFTA NOW VIRTUALLY ESTABLISHED, SAYS MITI

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (Bernama) -- The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has now
been virtually established, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI),
said Thursday.

ASEAN member states have made significant progress in reducing and
eliminating intra-regional tariffs through the Common Effective Preferential
Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for AFTA, said the ministry in a statement today.

January 1 next year will be a significant date as ASEAN-6 will be a
completely free trade area when duties on most of the products are eliminated,
it said.

Malaysia has committed to eliminate import duties on 2,123 products, reduce
import duties to five percent for tropical fruits, tobacco and tobacco products;
and reduce import duties for rice and rice products to 20 percent.

Among the 2,123 products that have been scheduled for elimination of
import duties include fish products with 10 tariff lines, vegetable products
(nine tariff lines); palm oil (17 tariff lines); prepared food stuff (88 tariff
lines); mineral products (17 tariff lines); chemical products (166 tariff
lines); plastic and rubber (366 tariff lines); leather (31 tariff lines); and
wood products (61 tariff lines).

Others are paper products with 137 tariff lines; footwear (two tariff
lines); ceramic products (94 tariff lines); precious stones (three tariff
lines); base metal (iron and steel) (555 tariff lines); machinery (144 tariff
lines); vehicles (238 tariff lines); manufactured items (74 tariff lines) and
work of art (three tariff lines).

MITI said import duties on tobacco and tobacco products and tropical fruits,
which range currently from 10-100 percent will be brought down to five percent
on January 1 next year.

For rice and rice products, which are highly sensitive products, the duties,
which are currently at 40 percent, will be reduced to 20 and 15 respectively, it
said.

MITI noted that alcoholic beverages have been excluded from tariff
concessions under the CEPT Scheme.

-- BERNAMA