Singapore, May 28: Singapore hopes to conclude negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with India within a year, Trade Minister George Yeo said today. "Our links with India are very good. We have begun negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement which should be concluded within a year," Yeo said at a business conference here.
"As India looks eastwards, we are their best partner in the region," he said. Last month, Singapore and India agreed to begin talks and work towards a comprehensive economic accord. The talks will cover trade liberalisation as well as investment promotion, protection and cooperation, and further opening up of air services.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, during a visit to India in April, expressed hope Singapore could serve as a bridge between Asian giants India and China which he said have the potential to be among the world's largest economies in 25 years' time. Goh said an accord with India would be a catalyst to a proposed free-trade pact between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) of which Singapore is a key member.
Singapore, a small Island-state heavily reliant on external trade, has concluded free-trade pacts with the US, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Bureau Report