The UK-Singapore Free Trade Agreement was signed last year on December 10 by Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing and British Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss. The Trade and Industry Ministry of the city-state announced that the recently concluded free trade deal between Singapore and Britain has entered into effect since 11 February.
Singapore Trade Minister Chan Chun Sing said that “The agreement… signals the strong commitment of the UK and Singapore to ensure continuity and certainty in trading arrangements between both countries. It will deepen the strong economic relations both countries share.” Chan’s ministry said that the agreement, which marks the first deal between Britain and an Asian nation, would enhance our positions in our corresponding regions as business hotspots. He said, “we hope that companies will utilize this (agreement) and enjoy its benefits”.
The ministry also confirmed that the bilateral agreement ensures that British and Singaporean companies would continue to have the same benefits as those provided for in the older EU-Singapore trade agreement. Britain has pursued new or alternative trade arrangements since it left the EU in 2016, as it is no longer belong to the EU and intends to create its own independent trade deals with the world.
More than £ 17 billion (S$ 30.2 billion) of existing bilateral trade in products and services between Singapore and the UK is included in the new trade agreement. The immediate advantages are the removal of 84% of all tariff lines for exports to the United Kingdom from Singapore, with nearly all remaining tariffs being removed by November 2024. Some British believe that, similar to Singapore’s position in Asia, Britain could also emerge as an investment hub of Europe. Britain is a four-nation empire with more than 66 million inhabitants, while Singapore is a city-state of 5.7 million people on a land area approximately equal to Middlesex County, Britain.
