Minister for Trade (): The Government will
shortly end negotiations with Singapore on the UK-Singapore
Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).
Negotiations were launched in March 2023 to strengthen the
UK-Singapore investment relationship, through agreeing modern
provisions to guarantee high standards of fair treatment for
investors, in line with a commitment in the 2020 UK-Singapore
Free Trade Agreement. As British investors in Singapore now
benefit from the high-standard investment protections gained
through our membership in CPTPP (formally joining Dec 2024), we
are ending negotiations on the UK-Singapore BIT.
We will instead focus on efforts to further facilitate and
promote investment and to boost our economic growth, as well as
help to build on the stock of UK investment in Singapore and
Singapore's stock of investment in the UK, which stands at £15.7
billion and £19.3 billion, respectively.
The strong cooperative relationship between the UK and Singapore
extends beyond just investment. On digital trade, seven Memoranda
of Understanding signed alongside the UK-Singapore Digital
Economy Agreement (DEA) facilitate cooperation in several key
areas, including Fintech and Lawtech services. Trade
digitalisation pilots conducted under the DEA demonstrated
significant business benefits to trade in goods, including 40%
reduction in trade processing time, 89% reduction in paperwork,
and 67% improvement in staff productivity. We are looking forward
to continuing our close collaboration on digital innovation.
And to further strengthen our trading relationship, we will
continue to work closely with Singapore as part of CPTPP to
modernise trade rules and promote deeper cooperation with other
economies, including through accessions and the General Review.
