Established in 1992 as one of the main pillars of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, AFTA set a timeframe for all ASEAN members to eliminate trade tariffs amongst member-states as a means to make the trade bloc more internationally competitive. The earliest signatories (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei) saw a 99.11 percent drop in tariffs after the treaty went into full force in 2003.
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