首页 新闻 体育 邮箱 搜索 短信 聊天 天气 答疑 导航


新浪首页 > 新浪教育 > Goh eyes US free trade deal

Goh eyes US free trade deal
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/05/06 11:26  Shanghai Daily

  Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong departed on Sunday for Washington to sign a landmark free trade agreement - the first such pact to be concluded between the United States and an Asian country.

  Conceived during a golf game between Goh and then-US President Bill Clinton, and since subject to two and a half years of negotiations, the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement will wipe out tariffs and other trade barriers on about US billion in annual trade between the two nations.

  The pact is scheduled to be signed by Goh and US President George W Bush today.

  The US is Singapore's largest fore-ign direct investor and its second-largest trading partner. There are about 1,300 US firms in Singapore.

  Singapore is the US' 11th largest trading partner, but because Singa-pore imposes virtually no import tariffs, the US advantage will be in greater access to the financial and other service sectors in one of Asia's main financial centers. It will also offer the US a blueprint for similar pacts with other Asian nations.

  For Singapore, the agreement will mean tariff savings of about US million a year as all US import duties are lifted.

  Singapore, a city-state of 4 million people with virtually no natural resources, depends heavily on fore-ign trade and has been aggressively seeking free trade pacts. It already has agreements with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the European Free Trade Association.

  US negotiators managed a minor coup by persuading the tightly con-trolled city state to open its market to some US chewing gum - the import, making and sale of which has been outlawed since 1992.

  Singapore has argued that discarded lumps of gum are hard to clean from its tidy streets. The pact will allow sugarless gum prescribed by doctors and dentists to be sold in pharmacies.

  More significantly, the deal is being touted as a way for Washing-ton to increase its economic presence and visibility in Southeast Asia, which may help it engage millions of Muslims in the region.

  In a speech at the National Press Club in Washington last week, Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo said that the "USSFTA can lead to a new relationship between the US and 250 million Muslims in Southeast Asia."

  "Winning over Muslim hearts and minds is very important," especially in the wake of the Iraq war, Yeo said. "It is important that they see in glo-balization and freer trade a message of hope for themselves."

  A staunch US ally, Singapore's support for the war in Iraq has contrasted with vocal opposition from its predominantly Muslim neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia.




英语学习论坛】【评论】【 】【打印】【关闭
Annotation

新闻查询帮助



文化教育意见反馈留言板电话:010-62630930-5178 欢迎批评指正

新浪简介 | About Sina | 广告服务 | 招聘信息 | 网站律师 | SINA English | 会员注册 | 产品答疑

Copyright © 1996 - 2003 SINA Inc. All Rights Reserved

版权所有 新浪网
本网站由北京信息港提供网络支持