Asean nears FTA Down Under
Asean, Australia and New Zealand aim to wrap up talks to create an Asean-Australian-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (ANNZFTA) by next year, according to Chana Kanarattanadilok, deputy director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department at the Commerce Ministry.
The ANNZFTA will cut tariffs and open up trade and services in the participating countries. The officials conducted the latest round of talks in Singapore late in November to discuss sanitary standards, the rules of origin, trade in services, investment and legal aspects of the agreement. On the tariff cuts, Australia and New Zealand exchanged information on tax and trade as well as the "sensitive" list for further negotiations. However, Chana said that both sides still couldn't come to agreement on the liberalisation of services and investment. Thailand wanted to push the Asean and Australian and New Zealand governments to agree on measures to stabilise the macro-economic aspects in the region. Thailand will continue pushing this issue, said Chana. The next round of talks will be held in New Zealand from March 4 to 9.
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