Deepening S'pore-Latin America ties a matter of urgency amid global trade uncertainty: Alvin Tan
Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan noted that the Republic must continue to build connections with existing and new partners.
SINGAPORE - Singapore is strengthening ties with Latin America, with such efforts taking on greater importance and urgency amid the global trade uncertainty, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan.
Speaking at the Singapore Business Federation's LATAM Conference on July 31, he noted that the Republic must continue to build connections with existing and new partners.
'In a world of shifting trade patterns and economic headwinds, Latin America stands out as a region of great potential, one that Singapore and Singapore companies cannot afford to overlook,' he said
While Singapore and the broader Asia-Pacific region are geographically distant from Latin America, Mr Tan said there are common characteristics between the regions, including a young and sophisticated workforce, widespread technology adoption, and common interests in areas such as sustainable development and innovation.
Overall trade in goods between Singapore and Latin America also grew by more than 20 per cent over the past year, from $28.5 billion to $35.3 billion, with an uptick in the trade of machinery, electronics, petroleum and agricultural goods, he said.
Trade in services between Singapore and Latin America is also growing, in engineering services telecommunications, computer and information services and transport services.
'Our strengthening trade architecture at the institution level will continue to promote and support these flows,' Mr Tan added.
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He also noted that
the Pacific Alliance-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PASFTA) entered into force in May 2025 for Singapore, Chile and Peru. It marks Singapore's 28th FTA and is a major milestone in the Republic's economic ties with the Pacific Alliance.
'We hope the remaining Pacific Alliance member states, Mexico and Colombia, will complete their ratification processes soon. PASFTA will be the first FTA between Singapore and Colombia, once Colombia ratifies the agreement,' said Mr Tan.
The four countries of the Pacific Alliance – Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru – have a combined gross domestic product of more than US$2.7 trillion (S$3.5 trillion) in nominal terms, accounting for about 40 per cent of the total GDP of the Latin America and Caribbean region, according to the World Bank.
Mr Tan also said that Singapore is looking forward to the entry-into-force of the Mercosur-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (MCSFTA), a pact between the Republic and the Latin American nations of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – a group known by the Spanish acronym Mercosur.
'(MCSFTA) will be the first FTA between Mercosur and a South-east Asian country, and will open new market opportunities for our businesses with this large South American bloc,' he said.
On the green economy front, Mr Tan said that Singapore signed implementation agreements on carbon credit collaboration under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement with three Latin American partners – Peru, Chile and Paraguay – in the first half of 2025.
'These collaborations will facilitate increased investment, create jobs in the green economy, promote sustainable development and facilitate tech transfer, while enabling us to meet our respective climate targets,' he said.
Mr Tan noted that several Latin American countries have also taken formal steps to accede to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), which was signed by Singapore, Chile and New Zealand in 2020.
DEPA establishes key rules on digital trade and economic collaborations on issues such as digital identities, cross-border data flows and artificial intelligence to help businesses, especially smaller ones, engage in digital trade and electronic commerce.
Costa Rica substantively concluded its accession to DEPA in January, and Peru's accession is currently under way, said Mr Tan, who is also Minister of State for National Development.
On the commercial front, he said that there are regular exchanges between Singapore and Latin American businesses.
In July 2024, the Singapore Business Federation, supported by Enterprise Singapore, led a delegation of Singapore companies to explore manufacturing opportunities in Mexico.
Mr Tan also said that he led a delegation of Singapore fintech companies to Sao Paulo in Brazil in September 2024, where they identified potential partners and new opportunities in areas such as financial services, digital payments and fintech regulation.
He noted that there are four areas of opportunity in Latin America – manufacturing, innovation, green economy and agri-trade – that Singapore companies can explore.
For example, Mexico's smart manufacturing market is projected to double by 2033, driven by the adoption of automation and the latest technologies in the automotive and electronics sectors.
Factories in the state of Queretaro and the city of Monterrey are integrating AI and robotics, boosting productivity and attracting high-tech foreign investment.
Meanwhile, venture capital investment in Latin America rose by 26 per cent in 2024, driven largely by activity in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
Brazil's Sao Paulo is currently ranked among the world's top 30 innovation ecosystems, with a combined ecosystem value of US$113 billion and 11 unicorns.
Mr Tan also said Latin America is known as the world's 'next global breadbasket', and is the largest net food-exporting region in the world.
The Singapore Food Agency has approved the import of meat from more Latin American countries over the past few years, and Singapore can now import pork from Colombia and Mexico as well as both pork and poultry from Chile, Brazil and Paraguay.
'As a small, land-scarce country which imports more than 90 per cent of the food we consume, we can work with LATAM partners to strengthen Singapore's food security and open new, mutually beneficial commercial opportunities for our agri-food players,' said Mr Tan.
He said that the Ministry of Trade and Industry, together with its agencies and industry partners, will continue to support Singapore's businesses in exploring these new opportunities in Latin America.
'This is a critical moment for Singapore to build new bridges with a region that offers strategic depth and complementary strengths – for resilience, innovation and long-term opportunity,' he said.
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