Singapore and Sacu discuss FTA

ALAN PEAT FREE TRADE talks are to take place between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and Singapore before year-end, said a statement released by president Thabo Mbeki. According to trade consultants Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, trade between SA and the Asian island state totalled US$1-billion (R6-bn) in 2004 SACU is to discuss the free trade agreement at a meeting next week, PwC’s Riaan de Lange told FTW. “If concluded,” he said, “this will be added to other FTAs that Singapore has signed – with New Zealand in 2000, the European Free Trade Association and Japan in 2002, the US and Australia in 2003, and Jordan in 2004.”