The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is moving ahead in tariff reduction under its economic integration commitments and its four new members lag not far behind the six old ones in the progress, a ASEAN council said in KUALA LUMPUR Monday.

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) are not far behind the six old members of the grouping as 90.96 percent of the products they trade in the region have been moved into the Inclusion List of the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Council said.

"Tariffs on 76.86 percent of these items have already brought down to the 0-5 percent tariff band," it said in a joint media statement released after its 20th meeting closed here.

The Council indicated that 99.77 percent of the products in the Inclusion List of the six old ASEAN members have been brought down to the 0-5 percent range.

In January 1992, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, or six old ASEAN members, signed an agreement on the CEPT Scheme for the AFTA in Singapore.

The CEPT is an agreed, effective tariff, preferential to ASEAN, for goods originating from ASEAN member countries. A product shall be deemed to be originating from ASEAN member countries, if at least 40 percent of its content originate from any member country.

ASEAN was aimed at using the scheme to accelerate the liberalization of intra-ASEAN trade and investment for creating the AFTA to promote economic cooperation among its members, and now its economic integration.

The ASEAN ministers attending the council meeting were also satisfactory with the progress made by the CLMV in tariff cuts, especially Vietnam and Laos.

Editor: Yan