Asean

The ASEAN is an economic group composed of ten countries of Southeast Asia, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok in order to promote economic development in the region and work together for the promotion of peace and political stability of its member countries. The Association is known internationally by its acronym, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Five countries areconsidered the founders of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. On January 8, 1984 Darassalam Brunei joined on 28 July 1995, Vietnam joined on 23 July 1997, Laos and Burma joined the April 30, 1999 Cambodia joined. The ASEAN economic chapter also has a partnership with Japan and economic agreements with the European Economic Community. The General Secretariat is based inJakarta, Indonesia.















The official website of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Asean member states. http://www.aseansec.org/18619.htm

The region covers a total population of 560 million people, an area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of 700 billion dollars in trade totaling 850 billion dollars. During its creation in 1967has faced strong historical evidence that have directly affected the region as the Vietnam War, dictatorships in Burma, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and genocide in recent tensions over territorial dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, protests against the dictatorial military government in Burma and natural tragedies like the Indian Ocean tsunami that the December 26, 2004 in disaster struckthe coasts of several of its member countries, particularly Thailand and Indonesia. The official language of ASEAN is English, the lingua franca that gathers countries where they speak many languages ​​and dialects Asians and Malaysians. Also meets nations with different political positions: Communist states, capitalist, dictatorial rule and constitutional monarchies.

Preferential Tariff SchemeThe purpose of the Agreement of Free Trade Area (AFTA) is to achieve the free movement of goods in the ASEAN region as a major means of establishing a single market and a unified production base to achieve full economic integration of the region towards achieving the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community - Economic Community) by 2015.
The Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) forthe Free Trade of the ASEAN (AFTA) requires tariffs on a wide range of products traded within the region be reduced to no more than 5%. Quantitative restrictions and other non-tariff barriers were removed.

Member States should abolish tariffs on all goods traded between Member States abroad by 2010 for ASEAN-6 and 2015, with flexibility to 2018 for CLMV countries.
- "ASEAN-6" refers to BruneiDarussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
- "CLMV" refers to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
For the ASEAN-6, before January 1, 2009:
- Import duties of at least 80% of tariffs are eliminated.
- Import duties on all products related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as defined in the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, are eliminated.
- Importduties on all Priority Integration Sectors (PIS) will be at 0%, except those included in the negative list accompanying the Protocols of the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors, as amended, and
- Import duties on all products will be at or below 5%.

For Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, import duties on all products are equal to or less than 5% from the January 1, 2009.For Cambodia, the import duty of at least 80% tariffs are equal to or less than 5% before January 1, 2009.

AFTA is very close to its full realization. The 98.58% of total ASEAN products have been added to the list including the CEPT (IL), and rates of 93.67% of these products have been reduced to 0 to 5%. Tariffs on 98.67% of the products of IL-6 in ASEAN have been reduced to the range of 0...