Cross-border trade policy department - Ministry of Trade says that ASEAN countries are considering loading non- tariff barriers (NTBs). This is an important step aiming to build ASEAN economic community in 2015.

ASEAN economic community building roadmap starts with lowering tariffs and creating free trade area or herein after called CEPTA/AFTA for short. Up to now, cutting tariffs due to favorable tariff program having general effect to ASEAN free trade area has basically finished. So ASEAN countries desire to step up to soon reach the goal of building ASEAN economic community in 2015.

Currently, Ministry of Trade has been drafting documents and preparing program to popularize lowering tariff barriers plans and the CEPT implementation situation for enterprises. Besides, the ministry collects the feedback from enterprises' difficulties in the implementation of CEPT process when they export to ASEAN market. Moreover, it also gives directions to use consulting mechanism to deal with trade and investment in ASEAN (ACT) so that companies can reflect timely difficulties in the process of realizing CEPT/ AFTA as well as receive appropriate answers from authorities.

It is known that at first the goal to establish ASEAN economic community was set in 2020. However, in January 2007, basing on running proposed programs successfully, the heads of ASEAN state come to conclusion that the time for establishing ASEAN economic community will be shorten in 2015.

They are hopefully that in 2015 ASEAN economic community will become a market for all kinds of goods and services, investment, internal labor, and will liberalize capital flow in this area more and more. Carrying out this decision, in the early April 2007, ministers of finance of ASEAN countries agree that they will check all the integration roadmaps about capital market, finance service, capital account, and currency cooperation to ensure that these roadmaps follow the objective of ASEAN economic community.