Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Stefan Vermes | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Despite rising trade tensions, Singapore still wants to promote a “multilateral, rules-based trading system” and looks forward to further cooperation between ASEAN and the European Union.
This was revealed by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong while speaking at the Singapore FinTech Festival on Wednesday.
“If we can bring both the EU and ASEAN together to discuss the EU-ASEAN Digital Economy Agreement, I think there will be great progress,” said Mr Gan, who is also Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry, during a chat with DBS CEO Tan Hsu Siang.
He added: “The EU is not part of ASEAN. ASEAN is not part of the EU, but that does not stop us from discussing areas where the EU and ASEAN can cooperate.”
But Gan said this would take time and that the two sides would first discuss “how we can set the ground rules” for digital economic cooperation before considering next steps.
According to the 2025 Google e-Conomy SEA report, Southeast Asia’s digital economy will exceed $300 billion in gross merchandise value in 2025.
He said he hopes ASEAN will conclude a digital economy agreement with the EU, and that Southeast Asian countries will find ways to work with the Gulf Cooperation Council and CPTPP to promote trade and investment.
CPTPP refers to the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was formed after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership during his first term.
“So despite the headwinds and uncertainty, I think there’s still a lot of opportunity.”
Separately, Mr Gan said Singapore would like to work with partners to consider how the World Trade Organization can be transformed.
“The WTO remains an important foundation for this rules-based trading system,” he said.
“We need to transform because the WTO’s current design architecture may no longer work. It is important that we come together to discuss the future direction and what are the areas that need to change,” Gan added.
