The United Kingdom recently signed a trade deal with Singapore that will help businesses seize new opportunities and lay the ground rules for modern global trade.
The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) was signed by UK international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Singapore's minister-in-charge of trade relations S Iswaran, reports fibre2fashion.com.
Trevelyan was on a tour of Singapore, following visits to Indonesia and Japan.
DEA is the most innovative trade agreement ever signed, and the first by a European nation, according to a UK government press release.
It will strengthen the United Kingdom's trading relationship with Singapore - worth £16 billion in 2020 - by ending outdated rules that affect both goods and services exporters, making it easier for UK business to target new opportunities in both Singapore and the wider region.
"This digital agreement plays to our strengths as a services superpower and will ensure our brilliant businesses can build back better from the pandemic and benefit from easier, quicker and more trusted access to the lucrative Singapore market," Trevelyan said.
The deal links two of the world's most dynamic hi-tech and services hubs and will capitalise on the UK's strength as the world's second-largest services exporter. A third of UK exports to Singapore are already digitally delivered, including in finance, advertising and engineering, and this deal will create new opportunities to expand modern services and help level up the country, the press release said.
The digital sector alone adds £151 billion to the economy and lifts wages, with workers earning around 50 per cent more than the UK average. UK services companies already operating in Singapore are well placed to take advantage of the deal, including financial giants, telecoms firms or software companies.
The deal will also cut red tape for goods exporters, streamlining cumbersome border processes and replacing time-consuming and costly paperwork with e-signatures and e-contracts.
Other benefits include free and trusted cross-border data flows and binding commitments that ensure individuals and businesses know their data, money and intellectual property are safe.
Singapore is a gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region and DEA will support the UK bid to join Singapore and 10 other nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Membership would mean access to a £8.4 trillion free trade area with vast opportunities for UK business.
UK-founded tech unicorns are being created at a rate of almost one a week, and more will now be able to follow in the footsteps of British companies which are already thriving in Singapore.
In addition to this agreement, the UK and Singapore also agreed to revitalise the existing FinTech Bridge, a move that will support innovative financial services and strengthen cooperation on emerging technologies.
