Malaysia and Thailand continue to disagree on the definition of tax reduction for the automotive sector under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) agreement.
International Trade & Industry minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said “sticking to the principle”, Article 5 stated that the party that enjoyed the CEPT tariff reduction should have no quantity restrictions.
“But we have not enjoyed the CEPT yet. We are still denied the privilege. That is the argument,” she stressed.
She again quoted Article 4, which says products at tariff rates at 20% or lower shall automatically enjoy the concession of CEPT rates.
While accepting that Thailand’s argument that the approved permit was a technical quantitative measure, Rafidah said Malaysia was allowed such a measure in the World Trade Organisation.
“Thailand too has quantitative measures, for example, the country’s palm oil which must be imported through the public warehouse organisation, because it designates who shall buy the palm oil,” she said, adding that if all the Asean members started inducing non-tariff barriers such as this, there would be no trade done in Asean.
Heeding the Prime Minister's call to speed up the realisation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) before 2020, Malaysia will prepare a paper on the five-year acceleration of the AEC, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz.
Rafidah said the paper would help Asean discover ways to bring forward the AEC target deadline to 2015, and the paper would be submitted to the Asean secretariat ahead of the Asean Summit to be held at Cebu, Philippines, in December.
“There is an agreement amongst Asean members to meet the 2015 target, but we must first crystallise how we go about it,” she told reporters after a working lunch.
Rafidah added that the paper would give Asean an idea whether the AEC target could be achieved on time, but said she was confident it could.
In her welcome address to the AEM meeting earlier, she said Asean leaders had decided to accelerate the economic integration of 11 priority sectors by 2010, as one of the efforts in fast-tracking the AEC goal.
She also said the economic ministers would strategise on measures to build upon the foundation of the integration process which will be spearheaded by these 11 sectors.
Asean’s economic ministers have directed the Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) and Asean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Asean-CCI) to conduct a survey to identify the problems faced by companies operating in the region.
MITI said the survey would allow policy makers in Asean to address problems faced by companies towards promoting greater synergies and competitiveness, besides obtaining feedback on issues on improving the Rules of Origin.
Asean-BAC and Asean-CCI were also to organise seminars on Asean initiatives to increase awareness of companies in the region regarding these initiatives.
The Asean Economic Ministers Meeting is also examining measures to assist companies in undertaking cross-border investments within the region.
Malaysia and Thailand continue to disagree on the definition of tax reduction for the automotive sector under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) agreement.