Trade pacts signal political commitment to prosper together, says PM Lee

Singapore

HAVING different free trade agreements (FTAs) that overlap one another will boost the levels of integration within South-east Asia as well as with the region's external partners. Making this point on Friday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that trade agreements are important not just for their direct economic benefits, but also because they signal a political commitment to work together and prosper together.

"Ideally, we should liberalise trade multilaterally, in the WTO (World Trade Organization). Unfortunately, the global arrangements have not worked out," said Mr Lee at a summit in Sochi to commemorate 20 years of dialogue relations between Russia and Asean.

The next best approach, he said, would be to have overlapping plurilateral and bilateral trade pacts that serve as "building blocks" towards overall economic cooperation. He cited examples such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed FTA between the 10-member Asean bloc and six other countries: China, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealan…