ASEAN-US FTA

 SAFSA is an excellent idea to integrate the ASEAN supply chain.  The next major step ASEAN need is a FTA with US.

SAFSA - Source ASEAN Full Service Alliance

The global garment industry is undergoing tectonic change. In the past, a factory that shipped a decent product, on time, and at a reasonable price was assured a customer.

Today these attributes are not competitive advantages, but minimum requirements. Today’s customer assumes that a factory is a competent product supplier. In this new industry the preferred factory is full-service providing speed-to-market from first designer sketch, to DDP stock delivery, to customer’s warehouse.

Green Lane System for CEPT

ASEAN's Green Lane system has the following objectives:-

1. to reduce transactions costs to trade in ASEAN for CEPT products; and
2. to expedite the customs clearance of CEPT products.

Read more about is at http://www.aseansec.org/10095.htm

AFTEX would like to hear about your experiences with the Green Lane System.

Please comment or pose questions about is in this Forum topic.

Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme

Please find the full text of the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme For The ASEAN Free Trade Area at  http://www.aseansec.org/1164.htm.

AFTEX is interested in hearing members' thoughts on this Agreement, especially as it relates to your textile and apparel business.

Feel free to comment or pose questions here in this Forum topic.

New! Vietnam Country Profile

AFTEX has produced an updated country profile for Vietnam:-   These are exciting times for the garment and textile industry in Vietnam, as 2009 saw it overtake crude oil and gas as the country’s top export, though this is partly due to low oil prices. But changes in the world economy mean ...

Committee of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)

Textiles and apparel are among the 13 US manufacturing industries expecting improved revenues in 2010. Economic growth in the US will resume in 2010, said US purchasing and supply management executives in their December 2009 Semiannual Economic Forecast. The manufacturing sector positive about prospects in 2010 with revenues

APEC free trade a key issue under Japan’s leadership

The government said Wednesday it will accelerate efforts to get Pacific Rim economies to create a free-trade area during a series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings next year, stressing the importance of sharing views among its 21 members. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada’s pledge at a two-day APEC symposium in Tokyo, ...

Yarn demand surges, gas & electricity shortage restrict output

Textiles and apparel are among the 13 US manufacturing industries expecting improved revenues in 2010. Economic growth in the US will resume in 2010, said US purchasing and supply management executives in their December 2009 Semiannual Economic Forecast. The manufacturing sector positive about prospects in 2010 with revenues expected to increase in ...

Indonesia Considers Moves to Protect 11 Sectors From China FTA

Ministers will meet on Friday to discuss a proposal to renegotiate the Asean-China Free-Trade Agreement, which will reduce thousands of trade tariffs to zero and make it hard for some Indonesian manufacturers to compete with cheaper Chinese imports. Minister of Industry MS Hidayat said the government will ask Asean to give ...

Vinatex to generate jobs for ethnic minority people

The Vietnam Garment and Textile Group (Vinatex) will begin construction of a garment factory in Bac Giang province’s Son Dong district, on November 28, where around 47 percent of the population belongs to ethnic minority. The factory will be set up at a cost of VND 42 billion and would generate ...