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Myanmar to amend more tariff rate with ASEAN members by 2007
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-21 10:50
Myanmar will amend more of its tariff rate and classification for goods by
2007 traded among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
as part of bid for the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area ( AFTA), the
Myanmar Times reported Monday.
By 2007, the number of items of the country's commodities cut or exempted
with tariff will increase to 10,000 from 5,000 which had been identified and
established among regional members since 2002, the Myanmar Times quoted
ASEAN-related departments as saying.
The recommendation for the change, which will promote the transparency of the
classification process and will ensure uniform application of the goods
classification among regional members, is to be submitted to the Jakarta-based
ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN) Review Committee for approval, the
sources said.
However, ways are being sought to prepare for the impending change without
affecting the interest of the national economy and private individual traders,
according to officials of the Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The AHTN rates and classification are based on the harmonized system adopted
by the World Customs Organization (WCO).
Myanmar became a member of the WCO in 1990 and has followed the harmonized
system since 1992.
ASEAN plans to totally remove all import duties in the region by 2010 for the
six original members and by 2015 for the four new members -- Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar and Vietnam.
Other six original ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
According to official statistics, Myanmar's foreign trade reached 4.9 billion
US dollars in the fiscal year 2004-05 which ended in March, up 10 percent from
4.5 billion in 2003-04. Of the total, that with ASEAN members represented over
50 percent with Thailand taking up the highest volume of over 1.29 billion
dollars, followed by Singapore (762 million) and Malaysia (225.6
million).
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