Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
My delegation would like to join you, Mr. Chair, and previous speakers in extending a warm welcome to the distinguished delegation from Singapore, led by Mrs. Ow Foong Pheng, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
As a country with few natural resources of its own, Singapore has always been dependent on external trade for its economic growth and development, and today especially in areas such as high-tech electronics, chemicals, biomedical products and services. Singapore continues to build on its core advantages - its position as an international geo-strategic hub, its well-developed infrastructure, friendly business environment, talented workforce, open and liberal market orientation – all of which make it an attractive investment destination.
Mr. Chairman, since its last review, bearing in mind the serious challenges presented by the global financial and economic crises, Singapore’s overall economic performance has been impressive. It has managed to maintain its average annual GDP growth at around 6%, and unemployment even fell to a 14-year low of 2% in 2011. My government would like to congratulate the government of Singapore on its action taken and the various reforms implemented during the period under review. It appears that such measures as selecting 16 key sectors to boost the economy, moving to single-window customs procedures to facilitate trade, and establishing a ‘one-stop-shop’ for all port, shipping and maritime activities have succeeded in giving Singapore’s economy a welcome injection of greater productivity and innovation.
Singapore and Taiwan share the same interests in a number of ways. We both believe in active and meaningful participation to support a rules-based multilateral trading system, and in multilateral, regional and bilateral engagement with our trading partners to achieve our trade policy goals. Both of us are strong advocates of regional economic integration within the APEC framework. We also find ourselves often sharing common ground on issues within the WTO, we appreciate and enjoy very close working relationship with the Mission of Singapore in Geneva under the leadership of Ambassador Kwok Fook Seng.
One aspect of its trade practices to our concern, however, is that while Singapore has further liberalized some areas of its professional services recently, it still chooses to maintain restrictions on FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in certain sectors such as broadcasting, news media, legal services, retail banking and airline services. And, another is that the Singapore government chooses to retain the flexibility to impose price controls on dominant telecommunications and postal licensees.
Mr. Chairman, our written questions submitted in advance have already identified other policy areas that are of particular interest to us, such as foreign workers, notifications, the Secure Trade Partnership (STP) programme, export procedures, competition policies, FTA negotiations and legal services. The responses received from Singapore are very much appreciated. We may wish to come back for further clarification at the next session.
We believe that this review will stimulate some very interesting and productive discussion. May I conclude by wishing Singapore a most successful and constructive Trade Policy Review.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the floor.