Vietnam reduces tariffs on RoK imports
Nhan Dan, Viet Nam
Vietnam reduces tariffs on RoK imports
8 June 2007
The Ministry of Finance has issued new tariffs imposed on goods imported from the Republic of Korea (RoK) following the ASEAN-RoK Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA) coming into effect on June 1.
Many of the commodities shipped from the RoK, including consumer goods, materials and industrial products, will immediately enjoy the lowest committed tax rates of between 0-5%.
The RoK began to cut taxes levied on 7,991 goods out of 12,063 to be subjected to tax waivers and reduction as of June 1.
Meanwhile, member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, excluding Thailand that did not participate in the AKFTA, reduced taxes imposed on 45% of the goods on the list to 0-5%.
Under the AKFTA, the first trade agreement that the RoK made with an economic bloc, the two sides are set to remove tariff barriers against 92% of export and import items by 2010.
ASEAN is the RoK’s fifth largest trade partner with import and export value at US $53.5 billion in 2005, making up 9.8% of the RoK’s total trade value.
The two sides are also expected to reach an agreement on investment and service liberalisation by the end of the year.
Last month, the Ministry of Finance also applied new tariffs on goods imported from China in a move to implement the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement. (VNA)
