Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Photo: AFP/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged US businesses to voice their support to persuade the US Congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
Speaking before 200 businesses and visitors at the US – ASEAN Business Council in Washington on August 1, the PM said Singapore wants to attract new investment from the US .
He acknowledged economic anxieties among Americans and called on the US to resist protectionism and secure its economic future by ratifying the TPP – the world’s largest free trade pact.
The PM said that the TPP is strategically “vital” to the US ’s engagement in the Asia-Pacific.
The agreement will enable the US and its TPP partners to shape regional economic architecture by setting a high bar for future trade agreements, he said.
PM Lee Hsien Loong is on an official visit to the US . The one-week visit is taking place on the anniversary of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The TPP is a free trade agreement between 12 countries, namely Canada, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Australia, the US, Japan and Vietnam, which aims to remove tariff barriers for its members.
Once in force, the pact will create a free trade area of 800 million population and account for 30 percent of global trade and about 40 percent of the world’s economy.-VNA
