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