Singapore sees FTA with India in few months

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 09 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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SINGAPORE: Singapore said on Monday that it expects to finalize a free trade deal with India within a few months. The pact is expected to be a model for a free trade deal between India and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations due to be completed by 2012, Singapore Trade and Industry Minister of State Vivian Balakrishnan said. "Details are being hammered out, but both governments are committed to concluding the (agreement) in the next few months," Balakrishnan said. Singapore and India launched talks on a free trade accord in May 2003, and the two sides last met in November. "India's economic renaissance is unstoppable," Balakrishnan told an India-ASEAN forum. An agreement would lower tariffs on goods and services from both countries. Singapore's telecommunications, financial services, education, shipping, and electronics sectors are expected to benefit from a deal. Balakrishnan said the Singapore-India accord would also include an air services agreement, but didn't elaborate. The two nations already have an "open skies" pact under an ASEAN-India agreement. The official also said there would be measures to reduce taxes for each other's companies. Singaporean real estate developers are particularly interested in entering India's housing market, he said. Meanwhile, the Singapore government's holding company, Temasek, has bought a stake in ICICI Bank, India's largest private bank, and two pharmaceutical companies, he said. Trade between India and Singapore totaled $6.9 billion in 2002, according to the most recent data available. Free trade agreements are a cornerstone of resource-poor Singapore's economic policy. It has already inked free trade pacts with the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein over the past two years. The government is also currently holding talks with Bahrain, Canada, Chile, India, Sri Lanka and South Korea. Singapore is also exploring a possible free trade agreement with Pakistan. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.