S'pore, India to wrap up trade talks soon

S'pore, India to wrap up trade talks soon

Singapore and India want to complete talks on a trade agreement by the end of November after negotiators ironed out key issues at their latest meeting, the trade ministry said on Friday.

Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang met his Indian counterpart Kamal Nath here on Thursday in an attempt to resolve outstanding issues in their Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), initiated two years ago.

"The ministers reached broad agreement on a wide range of substantive outstanding items," the ministry said in a statement.

These issues relate to the treatment of investments, movement of their citizens, the scope of tariff cuts and the rules of origin for goods to be given tariff concessions.

"This was a highly significant meeting that has cleared the way for officials to work towards finalizing the text of the agreement. The ministers instructed officials to work towards wrapping up the negotiations by the end of November 2004," the statement said.

Among others, the agreement aims to ease barriers for Singaporean firms to invest in India's fast-growing economy and give greater access for Indian professionals in Singapore's services industries.

India will cut tariffs on its imports from Singapore by 80 percent after the pact is signed, gradualling reducing them to zero over a five year period.

The agreement also calls for a liberalization of air transport between the two countries.

Singapore has invested US$1.5 billion in India, making it India's biggest Asian investor and the third largest overall.

India expects Singapore to invest an additional $2 billion in the technology, manufacturing, financial services and aviation sectors next year.

Singapore is a leader in forging free-trade or comprehensive economic agreements with its major trading partners, having signed such accords with the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. -- AFP