The Straits Times
16 May 2017
- RSIS
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- Global Trade Is Key to S’pore’s Growth: Halimah
Global Trade Is Key to S’pore’s Growth: Halimah
Singapore needs to keep boosting its international trading links, given the global economic slowdown and political uncertainty, according to Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob yesterday.
Madam Halimah told a trade workshop: “As two-thirds of (Singapore’s) GDP (gross domestic product) is generated by external demand, we must always be open to trade, innovation, talent and ideas.”
She noted how trade enables Singapore to “further capitalise on its comparative advantage and deepen economic linkages with (its) partners”.
Madam Halimah was speaking at a parliamentary workshop on international trade organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Around 40 MPs from across the region were among those at the three-day event, which was funded by the Temasek Foundation International, one of the trust foundations of Temasek Foundation and is now in its eighth year.
Mr Keith Rockwell, the WTO’s director for information and external relations, underlined the importance of trade, telling participants that it can lift economic growth, lower the cost of goods and services, allow for more consumer choice, and create greater access to new markets for businesses big and small. But he stressed that more needs to be done to ensure that trade becomes more inclusive and that its benefits are more widely shared and understood.
RSIS / Online / Print
Last updated on 16/05/2017
