Polls to delay trade pact with Singapore

The comprehensive economic co-operation agreement (CECA) between India and Singapore will not be signed by the scheduled date of April 1, 2004 because of early elections. Visiting Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo has said that the free trade agreement (FTA) will be implemented by the middle of this year.

A Singapore official said that the FTA would be signed only when the elections in India are over and the new government takes charge. “We cannot say when the FTA will actually be signed as we do not know when the Indian elections will be over,” he said. Meanwhile, discussions to sort out the contentious issues, including rules of origin (ROO) and the products to be included in the FTA, will continue. Meeting of the chief negotiators, who happen to be trade secretaries in both countries, will take place between March 15-17 to iron out existing differences.

Asserting that all problematic issues in the proposed FTA between the two countries would soon be sorted out, Yeo, in a meeting organised by the CII, said: “The talks are in the final stage and the FTA would be implemented by the middle of this year.” The minister said that CECA would make Singapore the eastward extension of India into East Asia. Yeo, who is in India on a visit for the dedication of the Mahabodhi Temple as a world heritage site, said flight connectivity between the countries needed to be strengthened to give a fillip to tourism.