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KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Xinhua): Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has offered more products for tariff liberalisation, including those in the temporary exclusion list and the sensitive list, a senior Malaysian official said yesterday.
ASEAN member countries have completed the transfer of their products from the Temporary Exclusion List and the Sensitive List to the Inclusion List of the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said.
This is one of the positive developments in ASEAN economic integration since the 37th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting in Vientiane, Laos, she said after a working dinner of ASEAN senior economic officials here.
Rafidah said that ASEAN member countries were also making progress on other initiatives, such as the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
ASEAN, for example, signed the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Engineering Services, ASEAN Harmonised Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulatory Regime and ASEAN Agreement on the ASW at the 11th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur last December, she said.
MRAs on nursing services and land surveying were currently being finalised, she said.
The measures for the second phase of the integration of the 11 priority sectors were being finalised for consideration of the upcoming 38th AEM meeting.
The roadmap for the logistics sector, which is the 12th priority sector, is also being developed, she added.
The 38th AEM meeting will open on Aug 22 here, which would be followed by consultations with ASEAN's dialogue partners. Senior officials from ASEAN member countries were arriving here Tuesday for preparatory meeting for the AEM and other related meetings.
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