Saturday, July 24, 2004
Singapore eyes up to 15 extra free-trade deals
Associated Press Singapore, July 24
Trade-dependent Singapore has stepped up a drive to expand its web of free-trade deals, with a half dozen pacts now in negotiation and as many as nine more that could be launched, the trade ministry said.
The rising total comes after a flurry of diplomacy this year that focused attention chiefly on West Asia, and represents one of the more ambitious national trade policy agendas in Asia.
Singapore officials are already in formal talks with counterparts in Canada, India, South Korea, Mexico, Panama, plus a three-way set of talks that embraces the Southeast Asian city-state, Chile and New Zealand, according to a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry seen on Saturday.
In addition, Singapore has agreed to launch talks with Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan and China, and to "explore" talks with Oman, Qatar and Sri Lanka, said the statement, which summarized recent developments.
Singapore has already inked pacts with the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Jordan, and a cluster of European states including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. All but the Jordanian deal are already in force.
Bilateral deals are forged alongside slower-moving multilateral talks organized by the World Trade Organization, whose 147 members are attempting to reach a global deal to liberalize trade under the so-called Doha Development Round, which started in late 2001.
The Doha talks have made limited progress, in part because many of the issues on the table -- such as cutting farm subsidies -- are politically sensitive, and finding common ground among so many members is tough.
Singapore said its network of bilateral deals helps to spur regional or global talks, and it is "fully committed to the WTO." "These free-trade agreements should be viewed positively as catalysts (to wider liberalization), not as an 'insurance policy"' in case the Doha round fails, the statement said.
Singapore's free-trade push may be hampered, however, by a spat with Beijing, which was angered this month when Singapore's incoming prime minister visited Taiwan, Beijing's rival.
China's ambassador to Singapore, Zhang Yun, suggested Beijing might cancel or postpone free-trade talks with the city-state that had been scheduled for November, according to recent news reports. Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing still claims the self-governing island as its territory and objects when foreign officials visit it.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.