The EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA), was approved from the EU council several days ago and officially came into force today, November 21. From now on, Singapore frees all the EU products that enter in country from tariffs and EU from its side, removes the tariffs up to 84% for all the exports from Singapore.
With the federal taxes removal coming into effect, EU and Singapore will be both benefited as from now on they will have a greater market access for their businesses. Throughout the EUSFTA, trades in the field of telecommunications, engineering, computing, maritime transport and environmental services will be enhanced. At the same time, the trade agreement makes the business environment more predictable.
According to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the negotiations for the trade agreement started in the 2008-2009, almost a decade before the final approval. For the records, the EUSFTA is the first EU’s agreement with an Asean member state.
EU and Singapore goal to provide new opportunities in order to boost region-to-region connectivity between the EU, the world’s largest single market, and Asean which is slated to become the fourth-largest economic bloc in the world by 2030.
Launched amid the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, and coming into force in today’s uncertain global economy, the EU-Singapore FTA signals the EU and Singapore’s shared conviction that open and global rules-based trade is the path to growth and prosperity.
…Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, posted on Facebook recently.
With the Singapore being by far the EU’s largest trading partner in the Southeast Asian region, and a total trade in goods of over €53 billion and another €51 billion of trade in services, it seems that the agreement might bring significant economic results to the shipping market for both sides.
As an ambitious agreement with forward-looking provisions, it marks a new chapter in EU-Singapore relations and will provide a solid foundation for Singapore and the EU to take our economic partnership to the next level.
… said Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Mr S. Iswaran.
By venturing into the EU market, Singapore businesses are able to enjoy the benefits the agreement offers and spread their business in the world’s largest single market. Concluding the EU plays a major role in Singapore trades, since is the largest foreign investor marking more than $376 billion of foreign direct investment stock here in 2017.
