ASEAN signed 58th Free Trade Agreement
This time ASEAN chose a significantly important country to make free trade possible. Hong Kong as one of the middling nations of business between Asia and the West certainly will come in handy for further growth in Vietnam and the rest of ASEAN.
The Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN and Hong Kong is signed and is supposed to come into effect in January 2019. The agreement plays an important role in stimulating further impact on the economic development for both regions. In a first instance, free trade agreements aim to
- Reduce or eliminate tariffs
- Liberalize trade and services
- Establish rules in order to promote confidence in trade
With this signed Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN is now having 58 Free Trade Agreements in place.
Hong Kong and Singapore´s trade value to ASEAN was worth US$ 93.3 billion in 2016, whereas foreign direct investments into ASEAN almost cracked the US$ 10 billion record – both statistics speak for the value of these two main merchandize trading nations.