Sino-ASEAN tariff cuts extended
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-21 06:10

By 2010, China and six old ASEAN member nations, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, will impose zero tariffs on many products, while China and the other four new ASEAN members of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam will do the same in 2015, when free trade between China and ASEAN nations will be made possible.

The Sino-ASEAN Free Trade Zone has a population of 1.7 billion and US$2 trillion in gross domestic product, plus US$1.2 trillion in trade terms.

It will be the third largest global trading region after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Zone.

China has already signed a zero-tariff agreement on fruit with Thailand, in force since last year.

(China Daily 07/21/2005 page2)