Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to help increase the volume of trade between the UK and Singapore.

The UK is Singapore’s top European trading partner and Singapore is the UK’s largest trade partner from ASEAN. The UK-Singapore bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into force on 1 January 2021. Since 1^st January 2021, when the FTA took effect, the Government has been engaging with UK businesses to promote its benefits and is currently focusing on its implementation. Furthermore, the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA), whose negotiations the Government intends to launch soon, and the UK’s proposed accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), of which Singapore is a founding member, are also expected to boost bilateral trade flows.