I am making good a promise I made to Doris, whom I met with other residents of Blk 202 over kopi. She asked me to share the key points of what we discussed. The topic was Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between Singapore and other countries and was prompted by a superb ST article published that weekend. According to Doris, not enough of us are aware of the benefits of FTAs. Unlike bigger countries with huge domestic economies, we cannot afford to wall ourselves up. Trading is our lifeblood. We cannot avoid the competition amongst countries to provide goods and services at more competitive prices.
FTAs is one way to allow us:
✅ To access to countries’ markets without paying prohibitive tariffs.
✅ To make our products and services more competitive.
✅ Let our businesses grow and more jobs can be created for us here.
It is of course not a one-way street and countries signing with us would also want access to our market and opportunities for their people so that it is a ‘win-win’ situation for all parties. Ultimately, Singapore’s FTAs are about strengthening our country’s economic future and ensuring Singaporeans benefit from this too.
