Economic ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday signed a free-trade agreement on merchandise tariff cuts with South Korea here as their three-day meeting came to an end, according to a press briefing by officials.

However, the agreement specifies that South Korea and each ASEAN country may choose up to 40 items that could be excluded from tariff cuts, which was based upon their previous deal of initiatives signed in Dec. 2005, the briefing official told reporters.

Meanwhile, Thailand was not included in the agreement for its objection to South Korea's move to put rice on the protective list of import items, the official said.

As a major rice exporter in the region, Thailand has been asking for sufficient time on the rice issue that the government need to address before it came into the accord, Peter Favilla, the Philippine trade secretary told reporters.

"You can call it 10 minus one," Favilla said, adding that the absence of Thailand in the agreement would not affect implementation of the accord between South Korea and the rest of ASEAN countries.

The ASEAN economic ministers were optimistic that the liberalization of merchandise trade with South Korea under the agreement will boost the progress of another free-trade zone in the region by 2012, according to the briefing.

The ASEAN has signed a free-trade agreement with China, aiming to establish the world's biggest free-trade zone by 2010 in terms of volume and population.

Source: Xinhua