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Singapore,
India to seal trade pact in a month
Mon
April 25, 2005 4:17 PM GMT+05:30
Reuters India
SINGAPORE
(Reuters) - Singapore and India will wrap up talks on
an enlarged free-trade pact within a month, Singapore's
Prime Minister was quoted as saying on Monday, after a
sharp increase of trade and investment flows in the past
year.
The two nations have been
in talks for nearly two-and-a-half years about a Closer
Economic Cooperation Agreement -- a free-trade agreement
that also covers investment, trade and taxation.
"There are one or
two issues left outstanding, but I discussed these with
(Indian prime minister) Manmohan Singh and we did not
see any reason why we should allow these issues to hold
matters up," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quoted
as saying by the Singapore business daily the Business
Times on Monday.
His office confirmed the
comments made at the Asia-Africa summit in Bandung, Indonesia.
Issues that have stalled
talks may include difficulties in defining the types of
Singapore exports that would enjoy tariff-free status
in India, said PK Basu, managing director of Robust Economic
Analysis.
"One of the other
possible issues may also be the sort of professional qualifications
and degrees from India that Singapore would accord recognition
to," Basu said.
India was trade-reliant
Singapore's 12th-largest trading partner in 2004, with
S$11.8 billion ($7.17 billion) worth of trade flowing
between the two nations.
In the past two years,
Singapore firms have been boosting their presence in India,
the world's second-most populous nation and Asia's fourth-largest
economy.
Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd,
Singapore's state investment agency, has invested over
a $1 billion in India in the past year -- a sharp leap
compared to previous years when investment was "not
substantial", according to a Temasek spokeswoman.
Majority state-owned Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd. holds a 28-percent stake in India's
top listed mobile services provider, Bharti Tele-Ventures
Ltd., while Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte (STT),
owns a stake in Idea Cellular Ltd., India's fifth-largest
mobile operator.
A consortium led by Singapore-based
property developer Ascendas said earlier this month it
had acquired a 47 percent stake in a Bangalore office
park.
Singapore, which in 2003
became the first Southeast Asian nation to sign a free
trade agreement with the United States, has led its neighbours
in removing trade barriers. It has sealed six free trade
pacts so far and is in talks with 14 other nations.
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