KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24, 2006 (AFP) - Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam will push ahead with adopting common standards for documenting exports of pharmaceuticals, aimed at cutting red-tape, by the end of year, officials said Thursday. "So it will make the flow of goods smooth and cost is minimum," Malaysian trade minister Rafidah Aziz told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN economic ministers meeting. The other members, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines are expected to implement the common practice by December 31, 2008, officials said. One ASEAN official said the five countries are expected to implement the ASEAN Common Technical Dossiers in pharmaceuticals, a billion dollar industry, by the end of this year. "At the moment if you send something to Thailand, they have their own set of documents. We are trying to harmonise it. This is what integration is all about," he said. Southeast Asian economic ministers agreed Tuesday to push for the creation of a single regional market by 2015, five years ahead of schedule, to avert the loss of foreign investment to China and India. As part of its bid to slash the tariffs and red tape which made the unified China market more attractive to manufacturers, ASEAN has also agreed to adopt a "standstill" on non-tariff barriers. jsm/lh