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).