S'pore mulls FTA with China

S'pore mulls FTA with China

SINGAPORE: Singapore will consider negotiating a bilateral free
trade agreement with China if other countries in the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, proceed to do so, Deputy
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in local news reports.

The Business Times and Straits Times report Lee saying that
the proposed umbrella agreement for a free trade zone between
China and Asean, currently being discussed, would also allow
individual countries to work out separate bilateral trade deals
with Beijing.

Lee made those comments at a forum in Washington D.C.
Asean comprises Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.--Dow
Jones