Vietnam and ASEAN
ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 with five countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand being the founders of the association. Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995 and soon became one of the most active member countries.
ASEAN, which stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a geo-political and economic organization. ASEAN was set up on 8 August 1967 with five countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand being the founders of the association. At the beginning, the association was established as a defense of the five countries against both the pressure of external powers. However, over nearly five decades, ASEAN has witnessed remarkable changes in membership as well as objectives.
The bloc now concentrates on the economic improvement of each member as well as of ASEAN as a whole, the peace and stability in the region. As a member of ASEAN since 1995, Vietnam has contributed to the sustainable development of ASEAN, enhancing ASEAN to become one of the most powerful associations in the world while ASEAN has created favorable conditions for Vietnam in terms of its international trade in particular and integration in the world economy in general.
Photo : medium.com
Besides, the position of Vietnam in the world stage has been improved, as a result. Right after the participation in ASEAN, Vietnam joined in the CEPT scheme (The Common Effective Preferential Tariff) for AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area). AFTA is a trade bloc agreement by ASEAN and also an obligatory requirement to join ASEAN; CEPT scheme is the primary mechanism for achieving the objective proposed by AFTA, reducing intra-regional tariffs and eliminating non-tariff barriers for a period of ten years effective January 1st 1993 to boost ASEAN ‘s competitive edge and attract more foreign direct investment to ASEAN.
Following the CEPT scheme, Vietnam implemented its first package in 1996 with 857 tariff lines, about 39% of the total tariff lines in Vietnam, being in the Inclusion List. To be more specific, 548 out of these tariff lines came down to zero tariffs while the rest were in the 1-5% tariff range. The remaining tariff lines were categorized into the Temporary Exclusion List (TEL) group and by the year 2003, all tariff lines in TEL group had been phrased into the Inclusion List.
Tariff reduction and Non-Tariff Elimination have become main factors fostering Vietnam‘s international trade with other countries in the region. Apart from the participation in CEPT agreement, Vietnam also has taken part in other areas of ASEAN such as intellectual property, services, industrial cooperation and investment, which partly creates a dynamic image of Vietnam economy, willing to integrate and cooperate. Vietnam’s participation in ASEAN is the driving force facilitating its economic and diplomatic relationship with regional neighboring countries and the international community, not mention to large economic organizations like APEC and WTO.
In 2010, as ASEAN chair in the next term, Vietnam hosted successfully a series of ASEAN important summit meetings, contributing to enhancing ASEAN solidarity and connectivity. With the theme for ASEAN 2010 being “Toward the ASEAN Community: From Vision to Action”, Vietnam expressed its desire to fulfill the goal of building the ASEAN Community by 2015, definitely with the cooperation and support of all members.
