Singapore Working on More Trade Deals Amid Covid, Minister Says

10/22/2020

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Siraj Datoo and Abhishek Vishnoi | Bloomberg

Singapore is speaking with countries on developing further trade deals in the wake of last year’s pact with the European Union.

“We’ve seen many partners want to do business with Singapore, and maybe even locate some of their regional headquarters here because of that network effect of our free-trade agreements,” S. Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information, said in an interview on Thursday with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin.

In particular, the city-state is looking at the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement while also negotiating bilateral arrangements, including those focused on the digital economy, said Iswaran, who is also Minister-in-charge of trade relations. Singapore has inked about 25 free trade agreements, with the pact with the European Union coming into force in November last year after nearly 10 years of talks.

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