ASEAN ministers approve blueprint to transform region into a boom zone by 2015

MANILA (AP): Southeast Asian economic ministers approved a blueprint Friday that would transform their region into a booming free trade zone by 2015, but warned it's not a magic wand that can turn their bloc into "a Cinderella story."

While foreign investments flowed to a record high last year and the region has begun its march to freer trade, Southeast Asia still grapples with poverty, pockets of protectionism and daunting competition from economic powerhouses China and India.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' blueprint aims to turn the sprawling region with 500 million people, roughly European Union's market size, into an ASEAN economic community wheregoods, production assets, people and capital can move across borders freely.

Acknowledging the difficulty of breaking down age-old protectionist walls, ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said some members have yet to comply with pledges to slash tariffs for products under 11 categories this year.

"We have not sufficiently, satisfactorily complied yet," Ong told a news conference.

The deadline would not be extended, he said without identifying who hasn't complied.

Aside from the blueprint, which is expected to be finally approved by ASEAN's heads of state in a November summit in Singapore, the region's trade negotiators have been busy negotiating a flurry of free-trade deals with countries like China, Japan, South Korea and India.

Ong reported progress in the bloc's talks with Japan and South Korea to create separate free-trade areas but said negotiations with India has run into a snag over the type of products, timeframe and levels of tariff reduction under a proposed deal.

ASEAN ministers decided they would accept new free-trade talks only when the workload of their negotiators allow it, Ong said, suggesting future negotiations would be deferred w hile the regiontackles talks with six countries, including an upcoming session with the European Union.

Efforts by the region, once a bastion of protectionism, to negotiate such deals and break down trade barriers, have helped lure foreign investments, which hit a record-high of US$52.4 billion last year, Ong said. But he added there was so much work to do.

While ASEAN has forged many free-trade deals, their enforcement has been "very slow and patchy," Ong told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

"We want to clear up this unsatisfactory state," Ong said.

ASEAN economic ministers are to meet their dialogue partners from China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand over the weekend to discuss the status of free trade talks and other concerns. The ministers from India and South Korea are not attending, citing domestic concerns.

ASEAN's more affluent members - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - have pledged to slash tariffs for most goods and services by 2010, with the rest, comprising ofCambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, following by 2015.(**)