Britain's Trade Secretary signs digital trade deal with Singapore

BRITAIN’S Trade Secretary signs digital trade deal with Singapore on February 25 following earlier visits to Indonesia and Japan.
Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan signed the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) alongside Singapore’s Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, S.Iswaran.
According to her, this will cut costs, slash red tape and pave the way for new era of modern trade as it sets the standard for trade rules, helping the UK Build Back Better from the Covid pandemic.
Happy to see Singapore trade deal which follows similar agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the British Government suggests that this DEA is the most innovative trade agreement ever signed, and the first by a European nation.
It will strengthen trading relationship with Singapore – worth £16 billion in 2020 – by ending outdated rules that affect both goods and services exporters, making it easier for UK business to target new opportunities in both Singapore and the wider region.
International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “This digital agreement plays to our strengths as a services superpower and will ensure our brilliant businesses can build back better from the pandemic and benefit from easier, quicker and more trusted access to the lucrative Singapore market.
“We’re using our independent trade policy to strike these ground breaking agreements that create high-skilled, well-paid jobs across the UK – paving the way for a new era of modern trade.
The deal links two of the world’s most dynamic hi-tech and services hubs and will capitalise on the UK’s strength as the world’s second-largest services exporter.
“A third of our exports to Singapore are already digitally delivered, including in finance, advertising and engineering, and this deal will create new opportunities to expand modern services and help level up the country.”
The deal will also cut red tape for goods exporters, streamlining cumbersome border processes and replacing time-consuming and costly paperwork with e-signatures and e-contracts.
Singapore is a gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region and the DEA will support Britain’s bid to join Singapore and 10 other nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Membership would mean access to a £8.4 trillion free trade area with vast opportunities for UK business.
The ministers also held the first meeting of the Trade Committee for the UK-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, where they agreed to deepen cooperation on the green economy, including working together to support the net zero transition in the wider Indo-Pacific region, and strengthen the important bilateral investment relationship between the two countries.
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