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The proposed Singapore-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement is showing signs of reactivating after Kazakhstan’s Senate passed a bill ratifying the deal at a plenary meeting on Thursday (December 19). It was originally signed in Yerevan on October 1, 2019.
The agreement, which has been indefinitely postponed by Singapore since early 2022, had been mothballed after the Ukraine conflict broke out. Russia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) along with Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. The EAEU fills a geographic space between eastern Europe and western China, with Singapore officials stating when the potential FTA was first discussed that it would allow Singaporean companies access to huge new markets.
However, since 2022, Singapore has been part of the Western sanctions against Russia and has subsequently been placed on Russia’s ‘unfriendly countries’ diplomatic category.
Nonetheless, Alibek Nautiyev a member of the Kazakh Senate Committee on the Economic Policy, Innovative Development, and Entrepreneurship said “The agreement is due to lay a foundation for broadening trade and economic cooperation between EAEU members and Singapore. The bill envisages facilitation of interstate trade, promotion of investments, and deeper integration. Import duties on most products will be lifted gradually in mutual trade transactions.”
The agreement guarantees mutual, legal terms of access to the Singaporean market for EAEU member states, and to EAEU markets for Singaporean businesses. The EAEU is a collective market of 183 million with a GDP (PPP) of US$5.67 trillion.
Singapore is the de facto financial hub for the ASEAN free trade bloc, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Of these, Vietnam already has an FTA with the EAEU, while Indonesia is negotiating the same, and is a BRICS Partner state. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have also applied to join the BRICS.
ASEAN has a population of 640 million and a collective GDP (PPP) of US$12 trillion. With Singapore possessing maritime borders with nearby Malaysia and Indonesia, it appears that the country may be softening its political attitude towards Russia, and like its heavyweight regional counterparts, engaging once again with the EAEU – and Russia.
The bill will now be submitted to the Kazakh president for signing.
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