Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien attended the online ASEAN Economic Ministers' special meeting on ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) upgrade negotiations.
In his speech, Dien thanked the chair for proposing a solution to conclude negotiations on remaining key issues. As the discussions near their final stage, with the goal of signing the upgraded ATIGA this year, Dien suggested designing a package of commitments rather than addressing each issue separately. This approach would ensure a balance of interests among all participating parties.
Regarding the outstanding issues, he agreed with the chair's suggestion that countries should further liberalise tariff lines based on their own capacities.
The ministers tasked the ATIGA Upgrade Trade Negotiating Committee with expediting and concluding discussions on the outstanding issues by March 31.
Following this, a legal review process will commence, aiming for ASEAN countries to sign the second protocol to upgrade the ATIGA during the ASEAN Summit in November.
ASEAN countries were also encouraged to allocate and commit the necessary resources to finalise the ATIGA upgrade negotiations as planned.
The meeting covered a range of issues, including the most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment and special treatment for certain products, the dispute settlement mechanism once the upgraded ATIGA comes into effect, and the progress toward concluding the ATIGA upgrade negotiations.
ATIGA, signed on February 26, 2009, and effective from May 17, 2010, is one of the fundamental agreements of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). It is the first comprehensive deal within ASEAN covering all intra-ASEAN trade in goods, built on the basis of commitments to reducing and eliminating tariffs that were agreed upon under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT)/ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), along with relevant agreements and protocols.
Vietnam became a ASEAN member in 1995 and began following the CEPT/AFTA in 1996, and later the ATIGA. Under this agreement, ASEAN countries grant each other preferential treatment equivalent to or more favourable than the benefits given to partner countries in the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) ASEAN has signed. Beyond tariff commitments, the ATIGA also covers a wide range of areas, including the elimination of non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, trade facilitation, customs, standards and conformity, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures./.
