EU-Singapore: trade and jobs to the benefit of all

The European Parliament adopted the new EU-Singapore agreements today. "The trade agreement with Singapore is another milestone in EU trade policy. The deal secures market access for European companies in the most important economy of the ASEAN states and will be a stepping stone towards further cooperation with the rest of the region. Additionally, the EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement which accompanies the Trade Agreement contains all of the aspects of the EU’s new approach to investment protection. It will ensure an adequate level of investor certainty while explicitly safeguarding the EU’s and Singapore’s rights to regulate and pursue public policy objectives", said Seán Kelly MEP who is the EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur on the EU-Singapore trade package.

EU-Singapore is the third modern trade agreement after EU-Canada (CETA) and EU-Japan (JEFTA). Tariffs in trade in goods and services between the EU and Singapore will be gradually abandoned altogether within the next five years. There will be new market opportunities for European entrepreneurs for financial, environmental, IT, postal and telecoms services. Furthermore, EU companies will be able to take part in public procurement tenders in Singapore.

The trade package is supplemented by a Partnership Agreement. "The Partnership Agreement with Singapore is a vital pillar of the EU's foreign policy. Stable and friendly relations with the countries in South-East Asia are an indispensable tool for a multilateral world order that we wish to maintain and foster", said EPP Group MEP Antonio Lopéz-Isturiz White who is the European Parliament Rapporteur on the Partnership Agreement.

ASEAN represents the EU's third-largest trading partner outside Europe after the US and China, with more than €227.3 billion of trade in goods in 2017. EU-Singapore bilateral trade in goods amounted to €50 billion and to €40 billion in services.