KARACHI, Jan 25: The Philippines has reduced tariff on 300 products from zero to five per cent under ASEAN Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) programme.

Pakistani exporters can take advantage of this duty cut and explore possibilities to boost exports of these items.

According to information received by the Export Promotion Bureau, the products included in this list are not locally produced and have negligible imports from ASEAN countries.

These include soap, textile, belts and handbags, old coins, plying cards and used cloths.

Tariff cuts on these products were deferred by the Philippine government last year to help local industries cope with the economic crisis. This brings the number of products with zero to five per cent tariff range to 85 per cent, but still short of 90 per cent targeted as agreed in ASEAN’s Hanoi meeting in 1998.—APP