UK and Singapore sign new deal on digital economy

The UK recently signed a trade agreement with Singapore that will help companies seize new opportunities and set the ground rules for modern global trade. The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) was signed by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK International Trade Secretary, and S Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister for Trade Relations.

Trevelyan was on a tour of Singapore after visits to Indonesia and Japan.

According to a UK government press release, DEA is the most innovative trade deal ever signed and the first to be signed by a European nation.

The UK recently signed a trade agreement with Singapore that will help companies seize new opportunities and set the ground rules for modern global trade. The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) was signed by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK International Trade Secretary, and S Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister for Trade Relations.

It will strengthen the UK’s trade relationship with Singapore – worth £16bn

“This digital agreement plays to our strengths as a services superpower and will ensure our brilliant companies can better recover from the pandemic and benefit from easier, faster and more trustworthy access to the lucrative Singapore market,” said Trevelyan.

The agreement links two of the world’s most dynamic high-tech and services hubs and will capitalize on the UK’s strength as the world’s second largest services exporter. A third of UK exports to Singapore are already delivered digitally, including in finance, advertising and technology, and this deal will create new opportunities to expand modern services and help improve the country, the press release said.

The digital sector alone adds £151 billion to the economy and increases wages, with workers earning around 50 per cent more than the UK average. British service companies already operating in Singapore are well positioned to benefit from the deal, including financial giants, telcos or software companies.

The deal will also cut bureaucracy for goods exporters, streamline cumbersome border processes and replace time-consuming and costly paperwork with e-signatures and e-contracts.

Other benefits include free and trusted cross-border data traffic and mandatory commitments that ensure individuals and businesses know their data, money and intellectual property are safe.

Singapore is a gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region and DEA will support the UK bid to join Singapore and 10 other nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Membership would mean access to a £8.4 trillion free trade zone with huge opportunities for UK businesses.

Tech unicorns founded in the UK are launched almost every week, and more will now be able to follow in the footsteps of UK companies already thriving in Singapore.

In addition to this agreement, the UK and Singapore have also agreed to revitalize the existing FinTech Bridge, a move that will support innovative financial services and strengthen collaboration on emerging technologies.

Fiber2Fashion Newsdesk (DS)