A Trade Negotiations Department source who will participate in the two-day meeting on November 17 and 18 said the discussions among the 10 Asean members were expected to focus on the "second steps" in the overall plan of cooperation.

The meeting will focus on identifying products on which members are not ready to reduce tariffs, opening the way for progress on other products.

Some member countries, including Laos and Malaysia, are expected to be pressed to reduce their "sensitive-products" lists, the source said.

Under the Asean Free-Trade Area (Afta) agreement, sensitive products should not exceed 15 per cent of the total products targeted for the elimination of tariffs. Members recently agreed to add 245 more products set for the complete elimination of tariffs by 2010.

The source said some sensitive products would still need protection after the full Afta implementation. Thailand's sensitive products include fish, cassava and palm-oil products.

Officials hope that the Hanoi meeting will lead to an agreement that can be signed at a meeting of economics ministers at Cebu in the Philippines in December.

The meeting should find a comprehensive agreement for ministers to sign as a contract and also reach a consensus agreement to start liberalising trade by next year as called for by the schedule," the source said.

Under Afta's provisions, tariffs and customs-procedure streamlining will focus on 11 priority sectors covering nine product categories. The sectors are agricultural products, fisheries, automotive, wood products, rubber, textiles, electronics, information technology, healthcare, aviation and telecommunications.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation