SINGAPORE, March 31 — The European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement is unlikely to be ratified by this year, despite the “warm and strong” support for its early ratification, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
During the various bilateral meetings held on his trip with Europe — including with Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — the heads of state had all supported early ratification of the FTA. However, the European Parliament is set to hold elections in May.
“We had hoped to ... clear it before this Parliament collapses but I don’t think that’s possible because the elections are about to come so we have to wait for the elections that’s completed … and then we have to collect 28 ratifications from the different countries,” Lee said.
He said Singapore is “very systematically” going country by country to lobby for their support. “I think it is a good deal for them in many ways — market access in terms of the protection for intellectual property for music … the food (like) champagne and Camembert cheese or parma ham, things like that. And also fairer and more even competition for their companies coming to Singapore and competing against other countries which already have FTAs with Singapore,” he said.
“The governments we have lobbied have all expressed warm and strong support and we look forward to doing this as soon as we can,” he added.
Singapore and the EU concluded the FTA in December 2012, after three years of talks. Under the FTA, the EU will eliminate tariffs on all imports from Singapore over five years, while Singapore will grant duty-free access for all imports from the EU. Singapore is the first ASEAN country to seal the deal on an FTA with the EU. — Today
