[asia-apec 1608] The Star (KL) on Malaysia and AFTA

[APEC Monitoring Group]

Thursday, October 5, 2000
Afta not affected by Malaysian delay

CHIANGMAI: Malaysia's stand to delay the tariff reduction on its automotive sector does not affect the implementation of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) by 2003, said chairman of the third Asean Investment Area (AIA) council meeting Abhisit Vejjajiva. 
"We feel that the liberalisation under Afta on the whole is on schedule,'' Abhisit, also Thailand's minister to the office of the prime minister, told a joint press conference after the council meeting in Chiangmai yesterday. 

Abhisit said that the formulation of modality for members to defer the scheduled implementation of Afta by 2003 prepared during the senior economic officials meeting which ended on Tuesday, indicated that the the group wanted to continue to implement the agreement in a systematic way. 

The modality to defer the tariff schedule and the issue whether or not Malaysia is required to pay compensation to affected countries following the delay in the tariff will be forwarded to the 32nd Asean Economic Ministers' Meeting today. 

As for the AIA council meeting yesterday, Abhisit said that the council would continue to undertake several programmes to turn Asean into a competitive investment location. 

One suggestion was to develop an Asean Investment Portal, a new initiative to facilitate investment flow by providing a gateway integrating Asean to the world, he said. 

In addition, Abhisit said the council had suggested the launching of new regional investment publications to enhance transparency and greater awareness of Asean's investment environment. 

The council also noted the need for further development of the Asean Supporting Industry Database (ASID) to facilitate the growth of the supporting industries in the region, added Abhisit. 

They had also agreed to develop measures to capture data on cross-border mergers and acquisitions following the significant role of cross-border mergers and acquisitions as a source of foreign direct investment (FDI), said Abhisit. 

The council also saw the need to regularly update the compendium of Asean Investment Policies and Measures for public use and to enhance transparency. 

Concerning the achievement of the AIA meeting, he said member countries had completed their negative lists (temporary exclusion list and sensitive list under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff) for agriculture, fishery, forestry and mining sectors. 

They had finalised their individual action plans to implement the facilitation and liberalisation programmes of the AIA agreement, said Abhisit.--Bernama