& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

AFTA likely to start with whimper
SINGAPORE. Dec 21: The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). heralded aa South East Asia's insurance policy against the spectre of trade blocs in North America and Europe, will probably start with a whimper, not a bang, analysts said, reports Reuter.
The number of product exclusions is high, and significant in .impact," said a senior western economist based here who has followed the AFTA
talks ahead of the January 1 start-up date.
"What you’re going to have Is a very partial liberalisation at a very slow pace among Six countties that should not feel unduly threatened by one another. It's a disappointment.' The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Brunel. Indonesia. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand — agreed in January
to create AFTA over IS years, envisioning a common market of 320 million people. The first step was systematic tariff cuts through a Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT), starting January 1.
But after nearly a year of fine tuning, analysts said, the actual product lists, tariff cut schedules and exclusions due to be announced on December 22 will fall far short of the mark.
Product exclusions have made existing ASEAN Preferential Trude Arrange-mcnts (PTA) ineffective since 1977. they said.
“I think It will go a lot slower than thought because lobby groups are arguing for protection in member countries," said Institute of South East Aslan Studies economist Srec Kumar.
ASEAN posted some of the world's fastest growth in the
19SO., fue||ed by export-on ented foreign Investment. Some regional integration has token place as multinationals source product components around the region, but not much.
In 1990 intra-ASEAN trade was worth only 24.35 billion US dollar, compared with 26R billton US dollar tn goods and services that ASEAN members traded with the rest of the world.
"Each country has a different list of priorities and It remains very difficult for them to agree." said Donald Skinner. Credit Lyonnais Securities Ascan Research Director.
AFTA officials meeting tn Jakarta on December 11 con firmed that all six ASEAN members will participate tn CEIT. But they said more than 10 pact of targeted products will be excluded.
Jakarta has fisted 1.708 products for "temporary exclusion-. the Philippines 1199. Malaysia 648. Brunei IM. Th-iUnd 118 and Singapore’
CEPT aims to cut tariffs for ASEAN manufactured goods and processed agricultural product* to 0-5 per cent by the year 2008.
Fifteen "fast track" product group* — sensitive industries like cement, vegetable oil*, electronic*, plastics, chemicals. pulp and textile* — were targeted for "accelerated reductions' to 0-5 per cent within 7-10 years. But That. Philippine and Indonesia lobbies have led pressures to delay the pace, analysts said.
The glacial pace of ASEAN trade liberalisation was attacked earlier this month by Malaysian Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim, saying the foot dragging threatened to
make AFTA Irrelevant.
I view the 15-year time frame to realise AFTA as un realistically long. The ASEAN leadership must not allow short-term and narrow sectional Interests to slow down the dismantling of economic barriers." Anwar satd on December 8.
But analysts said AFTA's real function may end up as more new cause to rally around as the communist threat which unified the group tn 1967 has faded.
They point out that the AFTA agreements fall to adc quateiy tackle fundamental Issue* such as non-tariff barriers, Investment flows, and labour displacements. Huge areas of commerce, such as raw farm material*, are also excluded