Kuala Lumpur, August 23 :

Southeast Asian trade ministers agreed today to speed up services liberalisation and provide new incentives to achieve its plans to create a European-style single market by 2015.

Myanmar’s political problems, Malaysia’s affirmative action programme for Malays and some countries’ reluctance to open markets for sensitive products such as agriculture are not stumbling blocks to set up the proposed ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015 — five years than originally planned, officials said. The goal is to allow the free flow of goods, services and investment across the 10-nation region. The plan, which needs to approved by leaders later this year, does not call for a single currency system.

In a joint statement after two days of talks, trade ministers from the ASEAN pledged to progressively remove “all forms of restrictions that affect national treatment and market access limitations by 2015” in the services sector, including air transport, tourism and health care — most of which are owned or controlled by the government.

They said they would extend a waiver of a 30 per cent national equity requirement for industrial projects in the region until the end of 2009 to woo foreign investors amid rising competition from China and India. Trade mi-nisters agreed to remove all non-tariff barriers such as licensing requirements, quantitative restrictions, technical, control and inspection measures by 2012.

Malaysia’s trade minister Rafidah Aziz said ASEAN ministers hope to sign an agreement in April 2007 to liberalise logistics services, a key element to facilitating free flow of trade in the region by the end of the decade. She said they have also begun talks to integrate the region’s air transport, e-commerce and health care sector — most of which are state-owned or controlled. “We have to look inwards to see how we can change our policies to make sure there is better cross-border flows.”

Analysts however, said ASEAN members will have to remove years of distrust and decades-old protectionist policies to achieve a common market.

Malaysia requires companies in key industries to be at least 30 per cent owned by majority ethnic Malays. Indonesia, the region’s biggest country, bans rice imports. Despite setting the sta-ge for an AEC by 2015, there are no plans for a monetary union like EU, said Indonesian deputy economic minister Mahendra Siregar. “We are not looking that far, not an ASEAN currency.”

ASEAN trade ministers will meet their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand over the next few days to assess free trade negotiations.

Asian trade bloc :

KUALA LUMPUR: ASEAN and Japan agreed to investigate establishing a giant 16-nation Asian trade bloc. Japan has proposed a massive new trade zone embracing half the world’s population, from the 10-member ASEAN plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand. — AFP

‘No-go areas’ :

KUALA LUMPUR: Sugar, rice and auto parts have become no-go areas as Southeast Asia tries to create a single trading bloc. Malaysia’s trade minister said ASEAN recognised there were sensitive areas for trade in goods such as rice, but that they had little impact on their single market plan. — AFP