Singapore, UK finalise deal to boost digital trade

Singapore and the United Kingdom yesterday finalised a new digital-trade deal they had agreed on last December.

Mr S. Iswaran, the Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, and Ms Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britain's Secretary of State for International Trade, helmed the hybrid signing ceremony to formalise the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement.

This is Singapore's fourth digital agreement and the first for Britain.

The deal will boost existing digital trade between Singapore and Britain and provide new areas of partnership for businesses on both sides, ultimately ensuring their consumers are better served, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr Iswaran said at the event that the two countries have already started looking into the next wave of cooperation. That will include a detailed framework for green economy cooperation and an agreement - Mutual Recognition Agreement of Authorised Economic Operators - to expedite Customs clearances by this year.

Singapore is Britain's largest trade and investment partner in South-east Asia, while the UK is one of Singapore's top investment destinations in Europe.

Negotiations for the deal started last June, building upon the existing UK-Singapore Free Trade Agreement that came into force in February last year.

"The expeditious conclusion of this cutting-edge agreement reflects strong trust between two like-minded and digitally progressive nations," said Mr Iswaran.

The new deal's key thrusts include encouraging digitalisation of the entire trading process, protecting data used and exchanged in trade deals, and facilitating a digital environment where smaller companies feel their transactions are secure and consumers are guarded against fraudulent, misleading or deceptive conduct online.

"This enables businesses to use us as digital gateways to access opportunities in Asia, Europe and indeed the world," he added.

That deal covers a thriving trade relationship worth more than £17 billion (S$30.6 billion).

In 2019, bilateral services trade exceeded $22 billion, of which around 70 per cent could have been digitally delivered.

Ms 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."

Singapore has concluded similar deals in the past two years, starting with the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement with Chile and New Zealand, the Singapore-Australia Digital Economy Agreement, and the Korea-Singapore Digital Partnership Agreement.

Mr Chionh Chye Kit, chief executive of regulatory technology company Cynopsis, said: "We hope to leverage the Singapore DEAs to further our business expansion in the UK and other countries."