THE European Union and Singapore agreed terms of a free trade deal yesterday, a move that should further open the Asian country's markets for financial services and make it easier for European automakers to export there.
"We have finalized the negotiations, and I'm very pleased with the result," EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said by telephone from Singapore.
After the completion of talks by the European Commission, the EU executive, member states and the European Parliament need to sign off for the agreement to come into force.
Though EU countries have in the past sometimes rejected such deals for political reasons, this is unlikely to happen with Singapore, as EU leaders in October called for a swift conclusion of talks.
"I don't expect that many problems," De Gucht said, adding he hoped for finalization by the end of 2013.
The bloc hopes the deal will give it better access to Singapore, one of Asia's richest countries per head of population, where the US enjoys preferential access.
Singapore has a population of 5 million, but it is also a gateway to the 600 million people in the fast-growing economies of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Residential building collapses in E China's Ningbo
Feedback
RSS
