S'pore sees free trade with India by midyear

S'pore sees free trade with India by midyear

Rajesh Mahapatra
Associated Press
New Delhi

Singapore's trade minister said on Wednesday his country would
likely sign a free-trade pact with India by the middle of this
year, paving the way for greater integration of the city-state
with the South Asian nation of more than 1 billion people.

"Singapore will be to India what Hong Kong is to China," Trade
Minister George Yeo said of the benefits from a Comprehensive
Economic Cooperation Agreement between India and Singapore.

Indian businesses hope that tapping the world market will be
easier through Singapore, which has made free trade agreements a
cornerstone of its economic policy, inking deals with the United
States, Australia, Japan and several others.

Singapore is a member of the 10-country Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, with which India is also negotiating a
free trade pact.

India's annual trade with ASEAN is about US$10 billion, of
which about 70 percent is with Singapore.

Besides providing preferential trade treatment, the agreement
between India and Singapore would cover cross-border investment
and cooperation in 10 sectors, including education, shipping and
tourism.

Officials from Singapore and India have held several rounds of
negotiations since May last year, focusing on tariff concessions,
rules of origin for export, customs procedures, and antidumping.

"Now (the agreement) has come up to the final stage," Yeo told
a gathering of Indian businesses in New Delhi. "There are some
difficult issues, which I hope will be resolved soon at high-
level meetings."

The two countries had earlier planned to sign the deal by
April, but the process has been delayed by upcoming general
elections in India.

It appears that the deal will be signed only after a new
government takes charge in New Delhi. Elections are expected to
be held in April and May and a new government will likely be
formed by June.