India and Singapore Further Expand Free Trade Agreement
December 24, 2007
The Government of India and Government of Singapore have signed a Protocol to amend the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to expand the tariff liberalization package within the Trade in Goods Chapter. As a result, the government of India has agreed to eliminate or cut duties on more than 500 products.
The original free trade agreement between the two countries was signed in 2005 with the objective to increase trade and investment ties.
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With this decision in place, more than 90% of the imports from Singapore will face zero or significantly reduced duties from Indian government. However, the tariff cuts will take place gradually over a 4-5 year period starting from January 2008.
"This is a step in the right direction for both countries. The trade between India and Singapore grew nearly 30% to more than US$11 billion during the last fiscal year and the trend is likely to continue.", said Head of Business Strategy at AsiaBiz, Mr. Samir Malhotra.
