Protocol to Upgrade China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) Comes into Effect

By：MINISTRY OF COMMERCE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Update：2019-11-20

On October 15, the member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau and Vice-premier of the State Council Han Zheng and Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Heng Swee Keat jointly announced that the Protocol to Upgrade China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (Protocol to Upgrade CSFTA) will come into effect on October 16, 2019.

Protocol to Upgrade CSFTA upgraded 6 fields of the original China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, including the rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade relief, trade in services, investment and economic cooperation, and added 3 new areas including e-commerce, competition policy and environment. The two sides agreed that the adjustment of the rules of origin involved in the Protocol to Upgrade CSFTA will be implemented since January 1, 2020.

To upgrade China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement is an important measure to implement the important consensus of the heads of two countries and enrich the all-round cooperative partnership between the two countries. On the basis of mutual benefit and win-win results, the two countries have reached a high-level free trade agreement in a wide range of fields, setting a model for mutually beneficial cooperation among countries with large differences, which is a milestone in the history of economic and trade development between the two countries. After the Protocol to Upgrade CSFTA comes into force, it will help promote the greater development of bilateral economic and trade relations and continuously enhance the well-being of enterprises and people of both countries.