Singapore talks shop at Latin Asia Business Forum

SINGAPORE Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang opened the Latin Asia Business Forum held in Fullerton Hotel, Singapore by highlighting the synergies between the two regions and its country's trade rebounding with Latin America in the first half of 2010.

Economists are forecasting healthy growth in both regions this year, said Mr Lim, with Latin America expected to grow 4.9 per cent, while Asia is expected to grow 6.3 per cent, led by China and India. In South East Asia, growth is expected to reach 6.7 per cent, a stark contrast to the economic contraction, which many countries faced last year, he said.

The promising future for the regions is attributed to its growing middle class and its demand for infrastructure with Indonesia on the look out for US$140 billion of investments in infrastructure over the next five years to meet demand for energy in Vietnam is growing at more than 15 per cent a year.

"In Latin America, Brazil's hosting of the upcoming World Cup and Olympics in 2014 and 2016 respectively will see large investments in infrastructure. Similarly, Panama aims to spend $20 billion in the next four years on building ports and upgrading its existing airports.

Governments in both regions have steadily built a framework of economic engagement with the introduction of bilateral FTAs between Costa Rica and China, Peru and Thailand, and between Chile and Malaysia. In April this year, Singapore signed an FTA with Costa Rica, the Lion City's fourth with a Latin American country after Panama, Peru and Chile.

Negotiations for a transpacific partnership are also underway, a free trade agreement comprising Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Brunei, Australia, Peru, the US, and Vietnam, he said, adding that this agreement is a key step toward achieving an eventual Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific that will fuel greater economic exchanges between the two regions.

Investments over the first eight months of the year include Keppel Offshore & Marine projects in the oil and gas industry worth S$170 million (US$128.5 million) and SembCorp Marine has invested S$150 million in a new shipyard in Espirito Santo, Brazil's second largest oil producing state and Temasek Holdings has stepped up its investments across Latin America also.

Growing cross-fertilisation in operations based in Singapore are significant, he said. For example PMI, the oil trading arm of Mexico's national oil company PEMEX and Braskem, South America's largest petrochemical company have chosen to set up their first Asian office in Singapore. Earlier this year, Chile's largest wine producer and exporter, Concha y Toro, also set up a subsidiary in Singapore to manage and develop its growing Asian sales and distribution, said Mr Lim.

To service the growing number of Latin American and European companies doing business in the region, Spanish bank Banco Santander, one of the world's leading banks, has also set up a representative office in Singapore.

"These are indeed exciting times for both our regions. I encourage Latin American and Singapore businesses to leverage this forum, and others like it, to further grow our bilateral investment and trade ties," he concluded.
(Source:www.schednet.com)