国际英语新闻：ASEAN economic ministers determined to form single market by 2015

DANANG, Vietnam, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convened here Wednesday for their 42nd annual meeting and the 4th ASEAN Economic Community Council's meeting, expressing their will and determination to reach the goal of establishing a single market in the region by 2015.

At these meetings, the ministers vowed to continue building the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and discussed measures to promote the implementation process, said Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang at a press briefing here Wednesday to brief the outcome of the meetings.

The ministers reaffirmed their resolve to implement timely and substantively the measures in the AEC Blueprint to ensure the credibility and integrity of ASEAN economic integration with the realization of a single market and production base in 2015, said a joint media statement issued by the ASEAN economic ministers on Wednesday.

At the 42nd ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting, the ministers were pleased to note the realization of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) on Jan. 1 this year as duties on 99.65 percent of all tariff lines under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the AFTA have been eliminated, said the statement.

They vowed to eliminate all forms of non-tariff barriers to maximize the benefits from tariff reduction and reaffirmed the commitment to promote trade facilitation measures for free flow of goods in the region.