Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged countries to engage in open and free trade as he said that no economy had shown hope of being completely self-reliant after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PM has encouraged the development of a free trading environment at the 29^th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which was held in Bangkok, to cater to the growing demand for onshoring various production activities.

He asked fellow world leaders to work closely with each other and promote an inclusive and sustainable growth since the global economic outlook was still uncertain.

Lee noted that inflation, geopolitical tensions, and supply chain disruptions created several new challenges, and that SMEs and lower-income households would be the worst affected.

He added that his government would continue to supervise the APEC Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Plan and urged APEC economies to partner with the private sector in the fields of capacity building and technology access. These partnerships might create an atmosphere that enhances supply chain connectivity, efficiency, and certainty.

Speaking about the importance of having a digital economy, the PM revealed that Singapore had signed digital economy deals with APEC countries, such as Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

These agreements are expected to lower business costs and boost productivity by creating digital mediums of carrying out daily business operations.

The PM claimed that his country was assisting SMEs in their digital transformation by creating avenues for researchers to help small- and medium-scale businesses improve their innovation capabilities.

He further explained that Singapore was doing everything to enhance the skills and knowledge of its citizens to prepare them for a future economy.

Lee also emphasized on the significance of an inclusive and balanced growth of societies, to make sure that all the segments could take part in and benefit from economic development.

APEC is an intergovernmental forum and has 21 member nations that are responsible for almost half of the world’s trade and over 60% of the global GDP.

Source credit: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/no-economy-has-hope-of-being-self-sufficient-trade-flows-should-stay-free-and-open-pm-lee-at-apec