Singapore and Costa Rica sign free trade pact

06 April 2010 09:28  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Singapore and Costa Rica have signed a free trade pact which will grant duty-free petrochemical exports from the city-state into the Caribbean nation by 2011, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Key exports (from Singapore) that will benefit are electrical and electronics products, machineries, petrochemicals, steel-related products and processed food," Singapore's MTI said.

Under the terms of the pact, Costa Rica would eliminate customs duties for 91% of product categories from Singapore, with the tariff on the remaining items to be removed within a period of 10 years, it said.

Singapore would grant immediate duty free access for all imports from Costa Rica upon entry into force of the agreement, the MTI said.

Both countries would attempt to enforce the pact by the first half of 2011, it added.

Costa Rica is Singapore’s eighth largest trading partner in Latin America, with trade in 2009 valued at Singapore dollar (S$) 414m ($296m), while Singapore is Costa Rica’s second largest trading partner in southeast Asia, according to MTI.

($1 = S$1.4)

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By: Nurluqman Suratman

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