China firms encouraged to expand ASEAN penetration - report
- Chinese enterprises should move to further tap markets within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the China Daily reported, citing Xu Ningning, director of the China-ASEAN Business Council.
China and ASEAN are hoping to establish a free trade area (FTA) by 2010, and Chinese groups should take advantage of preferential policies as export tariffs are gradually reduced over the next five years, the newspaper said.
""Chinese enterprises are not as familiar with the FTA framework as their ASEAN counterparts, and they are not making full use of the tariff reduction policies,"" the newspaper quoted Xu as saying.
Xu added that since the beginning of last year, when China signed the Early Harvest Programme with ASEAN, only 18 pct of Chinese businesses have filled in ""certificates of origin"" forms, which allow them to benefit from lower tariffs when exporting products to ASEAN members, the newspaper said.
""Most Chinese enterprises failed to enjoy this tariff cutting policy simply because they do not know about the FTA and related articles,"" he said.
Chinese enterprises and industry associations should improve communication with their counterparts in ASEAN countries to promote business opportunities on both sides, the newspaper Xu said.
China and six ASEAN countries cut or lifted tariffs on over 7,000 commodities after a second round of talks in July, the newspaper added
报道 - 中国企业应进一步开拓东盟市场
《中国日报》引述中国
