The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2025 Blueprint envisions to create a deeply integrated and highly cohesive ASEAN economy, among others, to facilitate the seamless movement of goods within ASEAN in order to enhance ASEAN’s trade and production network. To further boost this effort, ASEAN is upgrading the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) to include provisions to facilitate trade including the elimination and prevention of the use of non-tariff barriers, address implementation issues, promote transparency to enhance intra-ASEAN, and facilitate AMS’ participation in global and regional supply chains. In addition to ATIGA, ASEAN has signed several Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with its dialogue partners, including China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, China and regional agreements such as Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
However , evidence suggests that utilisation rates of most FTAs involving ASEAN countries are low and are mostly below 50%. Businesses, particularly MSMEs, have difficulties to utilise FTAs. Recognising this issue, ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) launched the upgraded ASEAN Tariff Finder at the sideline of the 55th AEM Meeting in Semarang, Indonesia.
Continue reading the article here: