Bangkok Agreement: Six Asian Nations to Extend Tariff Cuts

six South and Southeastern Asian Nations to Extend Tariff Cuts

China, India, South Korea, Bangladesh, Srilanka and Laos have agreed to extend and deepen tariff cuts starting next July, as party of an expanded free trade agreement.

Trade ministers from these nations,agreed that to reduce tariffs by an average of 30 percent, from 22 percent previously, and more than double the product range, extending the agreement to 4,800 products, from 1,800.

The ministers, who met in Beijing, agreed to implement an accord reached in last April that expands the regional free trade pact, the so-called 'Bangkok Agreement'. The accord will be renamed the Asia Pacific Free Trade Area.

The Bangkok Agreement was signed in 1975 as an initiative of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. It is a preferential tariff arrangement that aims at promoting intra-regional trade through exchange of mutually agreed concessions by member countries.

With a total population of more than 2.6 billion, the six countries' GDP last year totaled 3 trillion US dollars, boosting future potentials for closer economic integratio"