SME Times News Bureau | 25 Aug, 2018
India and Singapore on Friday signed
the Second Protocol amending the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
(CECA) in New Delhi.
The Protocol was signed by Deputy
Chief Negotiators, Rajneesh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
and Singapore’s Francis Chong, Senior Director, Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The signing of the Second Protocol,
amending CECA, will boost bilateral trade between India and Singapore.TheCECA
was the first comprehensive agreement covering trade in goods, services and
investments, which India had signed with any of its trading partners, said an
official statement.
The CECA was signed on 29th June,
2005 and its first review was concluded on 1st October, 2007.
Signing of the Second Protocol
formally brings to closure, the negotiations on second review of CECA, which
began on 11th May, 2010.
India and Singapore have
successfully reached mutual understanding and agreement in closing the second
review.
Both sides agreed to expand the
coverage of tariff concessions, liberalize the Rules of Origin, rationalize
Product Specific Rules and include provisions on Certificate of Origin and
Cooperation on its verification.
The Protocol amending CECA will give
effect to the provisions agreed between India and Singapore during the closure
of the Second Review of India Singapore CECA.
The conclusion of the Second Review
of CECA was announced during the State visit of the Prime Minister of India to
Singapore on 1st June, 2018. The provisions of the Second
Protocol will come into effect on 14th September, 2018.
The two countries are exploring the
possibility of launching the 3rd Review of India-Singapore CECA
in September, 2018.
Singapore is the second largest
trading partner of India within ASEAN and India is the largest trading partner
of Singapore in South Asia, with a bilateral trade of USD 17.7 billion in
2017-18.
Singapore’s trade with India
constitutes about 21.8% of our total trade with ASEAN and 2.3% of our global
trade. India had a trade surplus of USD 2.73 billion with Singapore in
2017-18.