Singapore making good progress on concluding FTA with Eurasian Economic Union: Tharman

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam speaks during a forum discussion with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on Jan 15, 2019. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Singapore, Russia and their partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are making good progress on concluding the EAEU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement by mid-year, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Tuesday (Jan 15).

Mr Tharman was in the Russian capital Moscow for meetings with Russian ministers on bilateral economic initiatives and the proposed trade agreement.

The Prime Minister's Office said in a statement that Mr Tharman held meetings with First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov and Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin.

He also spoke at the 10th Gaidar Forum convened by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, and participated in a forum discussion with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

"Good discussions today at @GaidarForum2019 in Moscow on national strategies to enable the positives of globalisation to outweigh the negatives," Mr Tharman wrote on his Twitter account. "We are also making good progress towards concluding the Eurasian Economic Union-Singapore FTA by mid-year," he wrote.

Russia is among five member states of the EAEU, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The economic bloc together represent a market of about 183 million people.

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