Indo-ASEAN free trade: Early harvest to play hero
New Delhi: In its effort to boost implementation of the Indo-ASEAN pact on comprehensive economic cooperation, the draft framework agreement that is being negotiated in the ongoing ASEAN summit in Indonesia has proposed an early harvest programme (EHP) for expediting tariff elimination of some identified products. Progressive tariff reduction under EHP will commence on 1 November 2004 and tariff elimination shall be completed by 31 October 2007, say reports.

The remaining products, as per the proposal, will be categorised into normal track and sensitive track with the process of tariff elimination for the former beginning on 1 January 2006 and concluding for most countries by 31 December 2011. While most proposals in this penultimate draft are likely to be reflected in the final agreement, there are chances of dilution or scaling up some of the commitments.
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