Ministers agreed to implement commitments under the ASEAN Free Trade Area including customs mechanism, administrative reforms and a certificate of origin and transport standard.

Concluding the session, ministers signed two important documents including the Protocol to implement the 8th Package of services commitment under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in Services (AFAS) and the amended Protocol to Provide Special Consideration for Rice and Sugar.

The 8th Package of services commitment under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in Services devised a liberalization roadmap for 15 new industries with the foreign-invested capital making a maximum rate of 70 percent for four priority service sectors within ASEAN (including health, tourism, e-ASEAN, air cargo and approach service) and minimum rate of 51 percent for other services.

The signing of the protocol affirmed ASEAN’s determination to liberalise services within the bloc by abolishing almost all hindrances of services, and cooperating to fully tap the strength of businesses within ASEAN as well as improving the competitive edge of ASEAN service providers.

Negotiations to open service market within ASEAN bloc were conducted by ASEAN nations based on the AFAS signed in 1995 and the amended AFAS signed in 2003. Under the goals set out in the overall plan on building the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN nations will conduct negotiations on 11 packages of services commitments until 2015. For each package, the countries will sign a protocol to implement it and build its own fact sheet to meet the requirements set for the package.

The signing of the protocol to complete the 8th Package of Services Commitment under the AFAS is a significant step in the liberisation of the service sector inside ASEAN. It is expected to contribute to the building of an ASEAN Community.

The Protocol to Provide Special Consideration for Rice and Sugar was first signed in 2007 in the framework of the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) for the ASEAN Free Trade Area. At the 14^th ASEAN Summit in Thailand in 2009, the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) was adopted to replace the CEPT/AFTA and other related agreements.

The amended Protocol to Provide Special Consideration for Rice and Sugar is expected to help ASEAN countries to deal with issues related to procedural and technical issues when applying the ATIGA.