First, the development process and current situation of ASEAN Free Trade Area
(A brief history of the development process
1, 1967 ASEAN was established on August 8. The English abbreviation is ASEAN. Although the purpose of the establishment of ASEAN is to "advocate joint efforts to promote economic growth in Southeast Asia in the spirit of equality and cooperation". Social progress and cultural development ",but its fundamental intention is to curb the expansion of productivity in Southeast Asia, and its political intention is greater than economic significance. Later, with the change of the international situation, it gradually transformed into a regional group with political and economic cooperation as the mainstay. At present, ASEAN has ten member countries, namely: Indonesia, Singapore, Qin, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The ten ASEAN countries have a total area of about 4.5 million square kilometers, a population of about 530 million, a total GDP of about 737 billion US dollars (statistics 1998), and an average GDP growth rate of 3.3% from 1999. It is estimated that the growth rate in 2000 will be 4.8-4.9%. By 20 10, ASEAN's GDP is expected to reach $955 billion. 199 The total foreign trade of ASEAN was about US$ 620.6 billion, and the trade volume between China and ASEAN was US$ 2174.8 billion. From 65438 to 0999, the foreign capital flowing into ASEAN reached 169 billion US dollars, of which the investment from the United States was as high as 9.4 billion US dollars.
2. 1992 1 The ASEAN Trade Ministers' Meeting attended by six ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei was held in Singapore. The meeting signed an agreement to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). The main purpose of establishing ASEAN Free Trade Area is to enhance the competitive advantage of ASEAN as a single production unit. By reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers among member States, we expect to create greater economic benefits, productivity and competitiveness; Strengthen ASEAN regional integration and promote intra-ASEAN trade and investment. The meeting immediately signed a programmatic document representing an important symbol of the development of ASEAN Free Trade Area, namely, "Agreement on ASEAN Free Trade Area and Effective Inclusive Tariff Scheme", in English: agreement on the common effective pre-private tariff scheme for India (CEPT). The meeting decided to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area in the next 15 years, that is, before 2008. 1995 The ASEAN Summit decided to speed up the establishment of AFTA, that is, to shorten the original schedule from 15 to 10, that is, to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area before 2003.
3. It has been more than eight years since 3.AFTA was put forward by 1992, but its initial development was quite slow due to different opinions among countries. Under the active leadership of Singapore and Malaysia, it has gradually developed into a more organized mode of operation, and the scope of economic cooperation among member countries has become increasingly diversified.
65438+1On September 29th, 1999, the 3rd ASEAN Free Trade Area Council held in Singapore decided to advance the completion schedule of trade liberalization for six original members, namely China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand and Thailand, to 20 15, and the remaining four new members, namely Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia. Furthermore, the third informal summit of ASEAN in 1999 announced that the six founding countries would complete trade liberalization five years ahead of schedule, that is, 20 10 years ago; Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar will also achieve the goal of trade liberalization in 20 15 years ahead of schedule, and it is scheduled to build ASEAN into a free trade area in 2002.
(2) Important measures to realize ASEAN Free Trade Area
1, tariff measures, implementation of "* * * including effective inclusive tariffs", English abbreviation CEPT. This tariff measure is a cooperation agreement between ASEAN member countries, which stipulates that each member country will choose the same product category, specifically arrange the procedures and timetable for tax reduction, and plan to gradually reduce the tariff to 0-5% within1October 1993 1 to achieve the goal of establishing a free trade area, that is, ASEAN member countries.
However, CEPT system is not suitable for some products, such as some agricultural products, agricultural raw materials, live animals, animal products, some plant products and prepared edible oil; Animal and vegetable wax, food, beverage, wine, vinegar, tobacco, etc. In addition, articles related to safeguarding national security, public morality, human beings, animals and plants, and articles of artistic, historical and archaeological value are also excluded.
CEPT tax reduction plan is implemented in two ways (starting from 1993 65438+ 10/month):
(1) fast tax reduction, that is, if the product tax rate is above 20%, it should be reduced to 0-5% within 10 and completed before 2003 1; If the product tax rate is below 20%, it should be reduced to 0- 5% within 7 years. 1, completed before 2000. The rapid tax reduction includes 15 products, namely vegetable oil, medicine, chemical fertilizer, leather, pulp, jewelry, cement, chemicals, textiles, copper wire, electronic products, rattan furniture, ceramics and glass products.
(2) Normal tax reduction. If the product tax rate exceeds 20%, it will be implemented in two stages. First, it will be reduced to 20% in the first 5-8 years (before 200 1 1). According to the agreed progress, it will be reduced to 0-5% within 7 years (before 2008 1). If the product tax rate is below 20%, it will be reduced to 0-5% within 10 years (before 2003 1).
CEPT tax reduction plan must be approved by the ASEAN Free Trade Area Council (AFTA Council), and CEPT tariffs can only be applied if they are in line with ASEAN products. The so-called ASEAN products mean that their self-made rate is at least 40%. This 40% self-control rate can come from a single country or from more than two ASEAN member countries, which can be accumulated. According to the information provided by the ASEAN Secretariat, among the 42,622 tariff concession products proposed by the original six ASEAN member countries in 2000, 38,456 have been reduced to less than 5%, accounting for 90.2% of the total list.
13 the meeting of the ASEAN free trade area Council was held in September 1999. The meeting decided that in order to implement effective inclusive tariffs, which is the most important thing in trade liberalization, all the products in the CEPT list will be reduced to less than 5% in 2002 by the six founding countries, and in Vietnam in 2003; Myanmar and Laos were in 2005. In addition, the second informal summit of ASEAN held in June 165438+ 10 of the same year announced once again that six original countries would exempt all products from tariffs in 20 10 and realize complete liberalization, while Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia also achieved the goal of liberalization in 20 15.
2. Rules of origin.
In order to make ASEAN member countries enjoy more trade preferences or lower tariffs than non-member countries in the region, the AFTA Council formulated CEPT Rules of Origin on the basis of the ASEAN Inclusive Trade Arrangement Agreements signed by ASEAN countries in 1977, 1992, 1 1. Under CEPT Agreement, a member country can directly import products of another member country with a finished product ratio of not less than 40% from ASEAN countries, and can enjoy preferential tariffs if the certificate of origin is issued by the competent department of the exporting country (AFTA unit). Some countries outside ASEAN believe that even if AFTA meets the requirements of WT0, its rules of origin may still be a kind of trade protectionism, because the rules of origin restrict countries in ASEAN Free Area, which is equivalent to disguised trade barriers to countries outside ASEAN. Under the restriction of the rules of origin, ASEAN countries have guaranteed their national interests in the region and attracted many manufacturers to come to produce. For foreign countries in the circle, the rules of origin are very exclusive.
3. Promote the liberalization of service industry.
When ASEAN countries decided to establish ASEAN Free Trade Area in 1992, there was no specific resolution on the liberalization of service trade, only that ASEAN would "continue to improve and develop regional postal and telecommunications systems" and "continue to promote tourism". It was not until1the fifth ASEAN Summit held in Thailand in February 1995 that the liberalization of service industry made concrete progress. During the meeting, member countries completed the signing of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services, hoping to strengthen cooperation in the service industry, remove restrictions on service trade and expand the depth and breadth of service liberalization beyond the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). 1At the 6th ASEAN Summit held in Hanoi in February, 1998, the member countries conducted more negotiations on the schedule of specific commitments and reached a resolution that non-WT0 members also enjoy the same treatment as WT0 members under GATS norms, and member countries should extend the preferential treatment of the schedule of specific commitments to all other member countries. At this point, ASEAN has a further understanding of the future development of service trade in the region.
The main contents of ASEAN service structure agreement are still WT0 service trade and GATS specification. Since developing countries generally believe that the benefits of trade in services mainly lie in developed countries, developed countries should actively help developing countries. Therefore, GATS has specific provisions on "increasing the participation of developing countries" and "reducing the obligations of developing countries in this round of negotiations". This norm allows developing countries to legally refuse to include a wide range of service sectors in market opening commitments. Therefore, the coverage of most developing countries' service trade commitments is extremely limited, and its opening speed is relatively slow. Therefore, the opening speed of service industry among ASEAN countries is much slower than that of commodity tariff reduction.
At present, except Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, seven other ASEAN countries have become members of the WTO. At present, the service industry in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei accounts for more than 50% of GDP year by year, which shows that these countries have become more and more open and attach importance to the service industry.
According to the survey, most of the existing barriers to trade in services in ASEAN are to limit the proportion of foreign equity, which are more common in the financial, insurance and telecommunications industries. In addition, complicated administrative procedures (such as applying for work permit and temporary residence permit, it is difficult to apply for extension), inconvenient inland transportation, insufficient communication equipment, and difficulty in obtaining information have also become bottlenecks in the development of service trade.
After the Asian financial turmoil, ASEAN countries not only began to reorganize the financial services industry, but also accelerated the relaxation of the proportion of foreign equity, and actively studied and revised relevant investment laws to attract foreign investment and restore economic growth. For example, Malaysia has increased the shareholding ratio of foreigners' insurance industry and wholesale and retail industry; Thailand opens its wholesale and retail business to foreigners; Indonesia allows foreign businessmen to cooperate with Indonesian businessmen to set up auction companies. The approved wholesale and retail business can own 65,438+000% of the shares, and the registered new bank owns 65,438+000% of the shares.
4. Establish an investment zone-AIA (ASEAN Investment Zone).
In order to realize the goal of ASEAN Free Trade Area and attract a large amount of investment into the ASEAN region, the fifth ASEAN Summit proposed the establishment of "ASEAN Investment Area" in February 1995, and the 30th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting signed the "Framework Agreement on ASEAN Investment Area" in June 1998. The scope of application of this agreement is direct investment. As for investment restrictions and equity provisions, they are still subject to domestic investment laws and regulations.
In order to promote the transparency and liberalization of investment in the ASEAN region, the agreement stipulates that national treatment will be given to investors of all member countries in the region from 20 10, and to investors of member countries in all industries, and to all investors from 2020, so as to promote the free flow of capital, skilled workers, experts and technology. In order to protect national security, public morality, human, animal and plant life or health, and protect personal privacy, member States may propose comprehensive exception list, temporary exception list, sensitive list and other measures.
The AIA Council consists of the economic ministers of ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Secretary-General. Its task is to review the action plans put forward by ASEAN countries and so on. Investment Coordination Committee (CCI) under the Council is composed of senior officials from investment-related departments of member countries. The Committee will report to the AIA Council through CIA 1 SE0M.
1At the second ASEAN Investment Zone Council held in September, 1999, members promised to open more industries and give national treatment to investors in member countries except temporary exception list, sensitive list and comprehensive exception list. The manufacturing industries listed in the temporary exception list will be upgraded to investors of ASEAN member countries on June 6, 2003.
5. ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Plan (AICO)
In order to speed up the liberalization of regional trade, attract investment, promote the complementary division of labor between parts and finished products, and enhance the overall international competitiveness, the ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting was held in Singapore in April, 1996, and the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Plan (AIC0, June1kloc-0/996 for short) was signed.
The main purposes of ASEAN industrial cooperation plan are: ① to enhance the competitiveness of ASEAN in regional and global markets; (2) Improve the efficiency, productivity and industrial productivity of the region; ③ Improve the market share and competitive position of ASEAN manufacturing industry. Partners must be: at least two companies from different ASEAN countries apply for the program. Qualifications: ① It must be a legal person registered and operated in any ASEAN member country; ② At least 30% of the company's equity is local equity. (Note: In the Hanoi Declaration of 1998, ASEAN countries agreed to waive this provision for three years). Willing to engage in resource sharing, industrial complementarity or industrial cooperation activities. Preferential measures include: ① Approved products can enjoy preferential tariffs of 0 to 5%. (two) products produced by countries participating in AICO plan are regarded as domestic products and can be included in their domestic self-made rate; Imports of semi-finished products or raw materials with the same application plan from other countries are regarded as products made in the importing country and can be included in the calculation of the automatic control rate of the importing country. ③ You can enjoy other non-tariff preferential measures, such as limiting the number of nozzles.
6. In addition, ASEAN member countries signed a framework agreement on mutual authentication (establishing mutual authentication mechanisms in various product fields); Agreement on Transport Facilitation (promoting the simplification of customs clearance procedures for goods in the region, including exemption from inspection), etc.
(3) ASEAN explores ways to strengthen economic cooperation with relevant countries or regions.
1, ASEAN Free Trade Area-Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (AFTA-CER), (AFTA- Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership Trade Agreement Ministers, CER).
AFTA-CER dialogue opened up new cooperation in customs, information and standard inspection for the first time, such as IS0 14000 and trade and investment database.
1 99965438+1October1The fourth annual consultation meeting between ASEAN countries and ANZ economic ministers was held in Singapore. It was decided that AFTA would establish a free trade zone with CER before 20 10, and a special working committee chaired by former Philippine Prime Minister Villata was set up to carry out research work, which was sent to Thailand in June 2000.
2. "ASEAN Ten Plus Three" Joint Declaration
1999 1 when the third informal meeting of ASEAN leaders was held in Manila, Philippines, ten ASEAN member countries and three invited heads of state of China, Japan and South Korea issued a joint communique after the meeting, which was called the "ASEAN Ten Plus Three" joint declaration. The declaration clearly stated that the thirteen countries agreed to cooperate in six economic fields, focusing on strengthening information technology and e-commerce to accelerate trade, investment, technology transfer and technical cooperation.
ASEAN also envisages the establishment of an East Asian common market and even a regional monetary plan with China, Japan and South Korea to become the most powerful economic group in the world. Philippine President Estrada said in his opening speech that the long-term goal of ASEAN in promoting trade liberalization is to establish the East Asian Common Market, East Asian Currency and ASEAN.
Two. On the New Development of ASEAN Free Trade Area from the 32nd ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting
This year1From 3 to 7 October, the 32nd ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting was held in Qingyun, Thailand. At the same time, the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Economic Ministers Consultation Meeting and the "10+3" Economic Ministers Meeting were held.
1. Effective and inclusive tariff plan of free trade area agreement.
According to the Effective Inclusive Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) plan of the ASEAN Free Trade Area Agreement, the member countries promised to reduce the tariff to 0-5% in 2002, and the goal of four new members is set in 2008.
The ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting adopted the draft plan for the members of the ASEAN Free Trade Area Council. Asean member countries that cannot achieve the goal of reducing tariffs due to practical economic reasons can apply for the privilege of delaying tax reduction in the future, provided that these member countries promise to set up an ASEAN free trade area in 2002. Any dispute arising from this must be settled within six months.
Under the new mechanism, if lowering the tariff of a product will bring "practical problems" to member countries, member countries can apply for postponing the implementation of the original plan. This scheme is limited to more than 600 products added to the list of temporary exemptions from the effective GATT. The new regulations are based on the principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Different from GATT, a member country applying for an extension of tax reduction can compensate other member countries by means of MFN treatment through non-tariff compensation. The meeting agreed that the Protocol would be formally signed at the ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting before the ASEAN Summit held in Singapore in June 165438+ 10 this year.
At present, the tariff level of 85% of the 38,400 items promised by the former ASEAN countries has been reduced to 0-5%, and this proportion will reach 90% next year. With the development of intra-ASEAN trade liberalization, the average effective inclusive tariff rate among the ten ASEAN countries has dropped to 4.43%, and will drop to 3.96% in 200 1 year.
2. The meeting adopted the draft e-ASEAN framework agreement and promised to sign it during the informal ASEAN summit in June165438+1October this year. The agreement includes building ASEAN information infrastructure, promoting information technology liberalization in e-commerce, goods, services and investment, personnel training, e-society and e-government. The meeting also put forward suggestions on developing commercial services, construction, communication and tourism in the light of the new round of service trade negotiations from 1999 to 200 1.
3. In terms of investment, the meeting praised the success of the investment promotion activities organized by the ASEAN Investment Area Council to Japan, the United States and the European Union, which greatly promoted the economic recovery and development in the ASEAN region.
4. Promote the achievements of ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area.
The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Research Working Committee led by former Philippine Prime Minister Villata reported to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Trade Ministers Consultation Meeting. The report suggests that "it is not only feasible but also wise to establish a free trade area between ASEAN Free Trade Area and Australia and New Zealand". The joint statement issued by the consultation meeting of the economic ministers of the two regions shows that the economic ministers of the two regions recognize the benefits of promoting ASEAN's ties with Australia and New Zealand and agree to work hard to establish a "close economic partnership". Starting from next year, senior officials from countries in the two regions will examine the potential and scope of "close economic partnership" in more detail according to the recommendations of the working Committee. The focus of discussion includes: providing technical and infrastructure assistance to new ASEAN members and expanding cooperation in the field of information technology.
Whether the cooperation between the two regions can be deepened and whether a free trade zone can be established is still unknown. Political and trade differences between Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN countries are the main obstacles. General reny, Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry, said that the establishment of ASEAN -ANZ Free Trade Area will achieve obvious economic benefits, and its economic logic is beyond doubt. Free trade agreement has the connotation of traditional economy, but injecting new economic factors into the cooperation agreement will be more in line with the actual needs, such as learning from the advanced information technology of Australia and New Zealand and expanding the scope of "electronic ASEAN". In recent years, the relationship between Australia and Malaysia and Indonesia has been affected by events such as Anwar and East Timor, which has become an obstacle to the implementation of ASEAN and ANZ Free Trade Area. Malaysian Minister of Trade and Industry Rafidah said that it is a very complicated and time-consuming process to reach a free trade agreement between the two regions, and even the ASEAN Free Trade Area itself is still in the process of formation. The current political climate is not suitable for Malaysia to establish a free trade zone with Australia and New Zealand, but it is feasible to establish a' close economic partnership' on the basis of existing cooperation. Indonesian Minister of Trade and Industry Pan Guandan said that Indonesia is not ready to establish the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area. Despite this, Australian Trade Minister Weil said: "We have made unprecedented progress in promoting trade links between ASEAN and Australia and New Zealand.
At present, the "CER" between Australia and New Zealand and ASEAN also includes cooperation in agriculture, market opening, transportation and customs.
5. The "10+3" system has been further strengthened.
This "10+3" meeting of economic ministers identified three priority areas for "10+3" cooperation, namely, strengthening trade, investment and technology transfer; Encourage technical cooperation in information technology and e-commerce; Strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises and support industries. At the meeting, China's proposal to institutionalize the "10+3" meeting of economic ministers and senior officials was generally endorsed by other participating countries.