Promotion of Digital Trade Agreement with Singapore... 'Korea's First'

Declaration of the Launch of 'Han-Sing Digital Partnership Agreement' Negotiations
Agreement Covering E-commerce and Digital Product Trade Not Addressed by FTA

Yoo Myung-hee, Chief Negotiator of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government is starting negotiations on a digital partnership agreement with a foreign country for the first time. The target is Singapore. It covers the overall trade of new digital industries such as e-commerce, which are difficult to regulate under existing trade norms like Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Yoo Myung-hee, Director-General for Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, officially declared the launch of the Korea-Singapore Digital Partnership Agreement (KSDPA) negotiations at 3 p.m. on the 22nd (Korean time). During the video conference, they signed a joint declaration.

Director-General Yoo said, "We agreed to swiftly push forward negotiations aiming to achieve tangible results within this year," adding, "Through the agreement, we expect to lower digital trade barriers between the two countries, expand overseas advancement of our digital new technology-based companies, and help enhance global competitiveness."

The digital trade agreement is a standalone agreement that regulates digital new industry trade matters, unlike FTAs which cover goods, services, and norms.

It includes provisions for building infrastructure to facilitate e-commerce, ensuring free cross-border business of digitalized products and services, and strengthening consumer protection in response to the increase in online transactions.

The government explained that by participating in the KSDPA, Korea can actively join discussions on establishing international norms for digital partnership agreements.

Singapore's digital level is similar to Korea's. According to the Digital Competitiveness Ranking released last year by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, Singapore ranked 2nd and Korea 10th.

In the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Global Innovation Index last year, Singapore ranked 8th, showing a similar performance to Korea's 11th place.

It is also noteworthy that in a situation where non-face-to-face transactions have been activated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of the digital economy has been highlighted, Korea can actively respond to the global digital transformation trend.

Above all, the KSDPA includes not only normative elements of existing digital trade agreements but also cooperation elements such as personal information protection, artificial intelligence governance, fintech, and promotion of cooperation among small and medium-sized enterprises.

It can also be used as a foothold for building digital business models for overseas market entry and for advancing into the ASEAN region.

The two countries agreed to hold the first official negotiations around mid-next month. Considering the COVID-19 situation, negotiations will be conducted via video conference for the time being.

The negotiation delegations of both countries held two preliminary consultations last month to exchange opinions on areas of mutual cooperation interest. The first negotiation will discuss the structure of the agreement and cooperation matters.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.