By Caribbean News Global 
LONDON, England – International Trade Secretary Liz Truss was in Singapore, Thursday, December, 10 to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the thriving city-state, then onwards to Vietnam, one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia to conclude another rollover trade agreement. This is an important trading relationship that has tripled between 2010 and 2019 in nominal terms to £5.7 billion. Approximately 99 percent of tariffs will be eliminated after seven years, including on machinery and pharmaceutical products, our top exports to Vietnam.
“As the UK’s largest trading partner in South-East Asia, the Singapore continuity agreement will provide a gateway to Asia for UK businesses and lock in the benefits of our existing trading relationship, worth £17.6 billion last year. It is the latest step in the UK’s strategy to create a network of trade agreements with dynamic economies far beyond Europe, making the UK a hub for services and digital trade. The UK is already one of the world’s biggest exporters of services, with remotely delivered services exports worth £207 billion in 2019,” said the Department for International Trade.
International Trade Secretary Truss and Singaporean counterpart, Chan Chun Sing, minister for trade and industry, also announced their intention to launch negotiations for a ground-breaking Digital Economy Agreement (DEA). This would be the first DEA that Singapore has struck with a European country.
This agreement would enable the UK to become a hub for digital trade with strong connections to Asia, cutting red tape for UK businesses and setting global standards in key areas such as cyber-security and emerging technology.
This follows the launch of the UK’s first Digital Trade Network in Asia Pacific, to increase digital trade and investment opportunities and to forge new digital partnerships in the region, helping more British businesses export digitally.
Singapore and the UK are both global leaders in the digital economy and 70 percent of UK services exports were delivered remotely to Singapore last year, worth £3.2 billion.
“The deal also secures benefits for UK fintech firms in Singapore – Singapore has agreed to start a review in 2021 to consider an increase in the limits imposed on e-wallet payments, which affect UK firms operating in Singapore, as well as to discuss opportunities for UK firms to apply to become Digital Wholesale Banks in Singapore. This is in addition to additional customer services points permitted for UK retail banks already operating in Singapore, as part of this agreement.
“The agreements with Singapore and Vietnam mark another step towards the UK joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership CPTPP, which accounted for 13 percent of global GDP in 2019, rising to 16 percent if the UK were to join. Both economies are founding members CPTPP and have publicly shown their support for the UK acceding to this fast-growing trade bloc. Joining would provide British businesses with an unparalleled gateway to the Pacific region.
“CPTPP sets modern rules in sectors such as digital, financial, professional and business services, which play to the UK’s strengths. Our membership will help turn the UK into a global hub for businesses and investors wanting to trade with the rest of the world, which would not have been possible as part of the EU.
“In under two years we have agreed to trade deals with 57 countries that account for £193 billion of UK bilateral trade. This is unprecedented. No other country has ever negotiated so many trade deals simultaneously. The government’s ambition is to secure free trade agreements with countries that cover 80 percent of UK trade within three years”, the Department for International Trade said in a press release.
