The United Kingdom and Singapore signed a digital economy agreement on Friday (25.02.2022), which will strengthen bilateral relations by ending rules that hinder service exporters, British official sources said.
The British Trade Minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, signed the DEA during a visit to Singapore with the Minister of Trade and Investment of that country, S. Iswaran, on the last day of her tour of the Asia-Pacific region.
According to a statement from the UK Department of Trade, the DEA is the most innovative trade agreement in the world never signed.
The agreement, according to the same sources, will put an end to "obsolete" rules affecting exporters of goods and services, which will make it easier for UK companies to take advantage of new opportunities in Singapore.
"This digital agreement leverages our strengths as a services superpower and will ensure our brilliant businesses can recover better from the pandemic and benefit from easier, faster and more reliable access to the lucrative Singapore market," the British minister said in a statement.
"We are using our independent trade policy to achieve these innovative agreements that create highly skilled and well-paid jobs across the UK, paving the way for a new era of modern trade," Trevelyan added, referring to the UK's position after Brexit.
The agreement enables trusted cross-border data flows, the foundation of today’s modern global economy, enabling businesses to trade more easily, cheaply and quickly. It will facilitate everything from more efficient production and supply chains to more reliable infrastructure.
The DEA is designed to ensure the rights of online consumers, promote online security, help protect businesses and society from cyber attacks and prevent the abuse of intellectual property. It also ensures the protection of personal data.
A third of UK exports to Singapore are already delivered digitally, including in finance, advertising and engineering, and the deal will create new opportunities to expand modern services, the government said.
The digital sector contributes 151.000 billion pounds (179.690 billion euros) to the economy and boosts wages, according to British authorities.UK Press Release)
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