ASEAN

1
ASEAN Australia/New Zealand Free Trade
Agreement (AANZFTA)

• Closing the Deal
• Vangelis Vitalis
• Lead Negotiator
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

2
What is AANZFTA?

• The Association of South East Asian Nations
• Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
  Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
  Viet Nam
• and Australia

3
Why AANZFTA? (Offensive and Defensive Commercial
)

• ASEAN is New Zealands third largest export
  market (4.1b to March 2008)
• 6 ASEANS in top 25 for exports
• Growth of 36 last year 17 average since 2003
• Investment in ASEAN growing fast (60 growth
  since 2003) stocks of 3.76b
• Competitive pressures
• First-mover advantage in services and investment

4
Why AANZFTA? (Strategic)

• Economic platform for bilateral FTAs that go
  further
• At the political and economic centre of East
  Asian regional integration.
• Key component in our strategy of widening and
  deepening our regional integration

5
AANZFTA Unique

• Size and diversity of ASEAN
• Other FTAs ASEAN has concluded
• single undertaking approach is new for ASEAN
• Economic cooperation operationalised
• First example of jointery with Australia

6
Current status of negotiations

• Fifteen rounds to date
• Closing Phase of negotiations

7
Goods

• Tariff burden on business will be reduced from
  the current up to 50 million per annum
• Many tariffs significant
• but even the small ones proving hard to budge

8
Rules of Origin (ROO)

• Business will have simpler regional ROO
• Key benefit is plurilateral nature of ROO
• Two main approaches
• Regional value content
• Change of tariff classification (CTC)
• A co-equal rules approach agreed
• Goods need to be certified (as with China FTA) to
  get tariff preferences

9
Customs

• Customs facilitation will be improved
• Review and appeal mechanisms
• Transparency
• Reducing transaction costs

10
Services

• Business will have new avenues for information
  (eg about licensing) and some new bound
  commitments for market access that are expected
  to be WTO-plus
• Market access
• Transparency (incl licensing and regulation)
• Most favoured nation provision?

11
Investment

• Businesses will have new protections above the
  status quo in ASEAN markets
• Protection elements will apply to investors and
  service suppliers

12
Other Areas

• Business will have improved transparency in TBT
  and SPS and may include some WTO-plus
  improvements for the protection of intellectual
  property
• Negotiations have commenced on trade remedies
• Competition policy, government procurement and
  labour and environment are works in progress

13
Contact Points

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs Trade
• Private Bag 18-901
• Wellington
• Vangelis Vitalis
• Lead Negotiator
• DDI 04-439-8697
• Email vangelis.vitalis_at_mfat.govt.nz

• Luke Leonard
• Coordinator, ASEAN FTA
• DDI 04-439-8084
• Email luke.leonard_at_mfat.govt.nz