Master International Business
for Singaporean students
Course summary
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Panama Singapore:
The Panama-Singapore Free Trade Agreement entered into force on 24 July
2006.
The Panama - Singapore Free Trade Agreement is comprehensive, covering market
access for trade in goods, cross border trade in services, financial
services, telecommunications, e-commerce, investment protection,
competition, government procurement, and dispute settlement.
The objectives of the Panama - Singapore Free Trade Agreement are:
(a) to establish a free trade area that will promote market opportunities for
goods, services and investment between them;
(b) to strengthen the relationship between them, through the conclusion of a
free trade agreement, which addresses their economic interest and the evolution
of the multilateral trading system;
(c) to establish a cooperative framework for further promote and enhance the
economic, trade and investment cooperation between them;
(d) to liberalise and promote trade in goods and services between them and to
establish a transparent, predictable and facilitative investment regime;
(e) to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of their goods and services
sectors and expand trade and investment between them;
(f) to establish a framework of transparent rules to govern and regulate trade
and investment between them;
(g) to maximise opportunities for cooperation between them in logistics sectors
and in services, such as telecommunication, maritime and banking;
(h) to promote and facilitate cooperation activities between them; (i) to
facilitate and enhance economic cooperation and integration with other economies
in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region; and
(j) to build upon their commitments at the World Trade Organization, and to
support its efforts to create a predictable, and more free and open global
trading environment.
The Panama-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) allowed for tariffs on 98%
of Singapore's domestic exports to be eliminated upon entry into force of
the agreement. To enhance trade facilitation, the self-certification for the
claiming of preferential tariffs has been implemented.
The PSFTA has also opened up government procurement related opportunities
for Singapore businesses even though Panama is currently not a signatory to the
WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA).
Panama is currently Singapore’s largest trading partner in Latin America,
with bilateral trade amounting to S$4.3 billion in 2006. This represents 30%
growth over the previous year.
A number of Singapore companies have already ventured into the Panamanian
market with promising results. In 2004, Inter-Roller Engineering won a US$5.6
million contract to design and build a baggage handling system for Panama’s
Tocumen International Airport – its first job in Latin America. PSA Marine
secured a US$50 million global tender to provide the Panama Canal Authority with
tugboats.
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Panama Singapore:
Singapore Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
Chapters of the Panama-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA)
Chapter 1 Objectives, Establishment of a Free Trade Area and Definitions
Chapter 2 Trade in Goods
Chapter 3 Rules of Origin
Chapter 4 Customs Procedures
Chapter 5 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
Chapter 6 Technical Barriers to Trade
Chapter 7 Competition Policy
Chapter 8 Government Procurement
Chapter 9 Investment
Chapter 10 Cross Border Trade in Services
Chapter 11 Financial Services
Chapter 12 Telecommunications
Chapter 13 Electronic Commerce
Chapter 14 Transparency
Chapter 15 Dispute Settlement
Chapter 16 Strategic Partership
Chapter 17 Administration of the Agreement
Chapter 18 General and Final Provisions
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Panama Singapore (In Spanish):
Educational level: Continuing education / Executive education programs.
International Business
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