The European Union (EU) and Singapore have concluded negotiations for a Digital Trade Agreement (DTA), which is the first of its kind for the EU. The DTA seeks to facilitate digital trade rules and enable cross-border data flows between the two economies.
Additionally, the DTA will complement the existing EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement from 2019, further connecting the two economies and benefiting businesses and consumers engaged in digital trade.
The agreement will provide binding rules that aim to build consumer trust, ensure predictability and legal certainty for businesses, and remove or prevent the emergence of unjustified barriers to digital trade. This will unlock new economic opportunities while ensuring a safe online environment.
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More than half of the total trade in services between the EU and Singapore is already conducted digitally, accounting for 55 percent of the total EU-Singapore trade in 2022, which was worth €43 billion ($46.7 billion). The EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement is expected to further boost this digital trade connection and provide additional opportunities for growth.
Trade figures
In 2022, Singapore was the 11th largest trading partner of the European Union (EU) worldwide. It was also the largest trading partner of the EU within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Total trade in goods and services between the EU and Singapore accounted for €130 billion, with the EU enjoying a sizeable positive trade balance of €6.3 billion.
In 2022, Singapore was the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner for trade in services, with a total value of €77.6 billion.
In 2023, Singapore was the EU’s 20th biggest trading partner for trade in goods, with a total value of €52.6 billion ($57.12 billion).
Singapore is a major destination for European investments in Asia, and the second-largest Asian investor in the EU, after Japan.
Moreover, the bilateral foreign direct investment stock between the EU and Singapore was roughly €434 billion in 2022, having expanded rapidly in the preceding years.
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