Final negotiations on the deal took place on Sunday between EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Singapore’s minister of trade and industry Lim Hng Kiang, according to the EU statement, which may be viewed on the EU Newsroom website here.
The deal now must be approved by both EU and Singaporean politicians, with the expectation that a draft agreement might be ready to be initialled next spring.
Commissioner De Gucht said the agreement "clearly puts the EU on the map in Asia”, but added: “we do not intend to stop here – I hope it will open the doors for free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region."
The EU-Singapore FTA, when signed, will be the EU’s second with a major Asian trading partner. The first, which has been in operation since July 2011, was with South Korea.
However, this is the EU’s first FTA with an ASEAN member state.
FTA negotiations with Malaysia and Vietnam are said to be “already under way”, while “preparatory talks continue with other ASEAN nations”, as the EU works towards what it says is its long-term goal of a “region-to-region agreement”.
Negotiations between the EU and Singapore on a free trade agreement started in March 2010.
‘New opportunities’
According to yesterday’s statement, the new EU-Singapore free trade agreement is seen as creating new opportunities in such business sectors as banking, insurance and other financial services industries, as well as in “public tendering”, at the same time it is expected to “cut down on the red-tape and double-testing that makes life difficult for business”.
It will also, the statement went on to say, “facilitate the access of industrial and agricultural products on an important export market, through greater recognition of EU standards; for example, Singapore will [agree] to import European manufactured cars based on EU technical and safety standards and approvals”.
The new agreement contains a “green element”, whereby rules aimed at boosting trade and investment in environmental technologies and promoting “green” public tendering have been simplified in hopes of encouraging businesses to take this approach.
Further talks aimed at advancing other elements of trade cooperation between the EU and Singapore, meanwhile, will continue, the EU statement said.
Singapore is the EU’s 13th largest trading partner, in terms of goods trade, as well as being the EU’s largest trading partner in the Association of South-East Nations. The trade in goods and services between the EU and Singapore grew by some 40% between 2009 and 2011, with the balance of trade favouring the EU.
Singapore is also Asia’s second largest investor in the EU (after Japan). In 2010, the existing stock of bilateral investment between the EU and Singapore reached €190bn, a figure said to have expanded rapidly in recent years.
