25 Jan 2020
“Singapore, together with Australia and Japan, are co-convenors shepherding negotiations on digital trade rules at the World Trade Organization - WTO. This is an important effort involving 83 WTO Members, accounting for over 90% of global trade. Through the negotiations, we aim to modernise the WTO rule-book to address new issues and needs in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
I co-chaired an informal ministerial gathering on digital trade in Davos, with my counterparts from Japan and Australia. I am pleased to share that Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to a high standard outcome for the negotiations. For Singapore, this will include rules in areas such as cross-border data flows, data localisation, trade facilitation and consumer trust. We also agreed to work towards substantial progress by the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, in June 2020.
I also took part in other WTO-related meetings in Davos this week – the Ottawa Group ministerial dinner and an informal ministerial meeting on investment facilitation. At these meetings, I underscored the importance of a rules-based multilateral trading system – especially for small economies like Singapore. I also participated in discussions on finding resolution to the ongoing Appellate Body impasse, and way forward for successful outcomes at MC12.”
From Minister S Iswaran’s Facebook Page
