Singapore signed a ground-breaking free trade agreement (FTA) with four South American nations on Dec 8.
The deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - a group known by the Spanish acronym Mercosur is Singapore's first trade pact with these states and the bloc's first such deal with a South-east Asian nation.
In January 2022, Singapore signed an FTA with another Latin American economic bloc called the Pacific Alliance, which comprises Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
The agreement with Mercosur aims to facilitate greater trade flows through lowered tariffs and by establishing transparent investment conditions, noted Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry.
It will also foster cooperation in areas such as trade facilitation - a process that simplifies export and import procedures.
The pact, known as the Mercosur-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (MCSFTA), is expected to engender entrepreneurship, speed up digitalisation and boost sustainable development and food supply security, while also helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) develop across the five economies.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and ministers from the four Mercosur members signed the agreement at the 63rd Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associate States in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This story is from the December 09, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the December 09, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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