Singapore Deputy PM Champions Deeper ASEAN-EU Digital Economy Cooperation
By Reta Lee
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The global landscape is undergoing a transformation that goes far beyond a simple "change"—it's a fundamental shift. As Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong noted in a fireside chat today (12 November) with CEO of DBS Tan Su Shan at Singapore Fintech Festival 2025, "it's a world we no longer recognise because many things have changed and it is still changing. Dust has not settled."
For entrepreneurs, this period of intense flux—marked by evolving US-China relations and a flurry of economic deals—presents both uncertainty and enormous opportunity.
Singapore, as a small, trade-dependent nation, provides a clear, actionable strategy for entrepreneurs to navigate this complex environment. One strategy Gan touched on was about connectivity. ASEAN is actively building relationships with groups like the GCC, the CPTPP, and the EU. This effort to "build bridges" between major economic groups creates a resilient web of trade routes. "If we are able to bring both EU and ASEAN together to discuss a digital economic agreement between EU and ASEAN, I think there will be a major breakthrough," Gan stressed.
Gan, who is also Singapore's minister for trade and industry, said that the immediate focus should be on strengthening ties with like-minded, proximate economies. "We want to focus on strengthening integration with our like-minded economies particularly ASEAN, for example. We just had the ASEAN summit. Last week we announced the completion of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) negotiation. It's also an important signal within ASEAN that we are determined to further our integration rather than to be swept away by this protectionist sentiments. We've also completed our upgraded ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) 3.0 agreement."
He added: "At the same time we are also looking at new partnerships. A few weeks ago, we announced the formation of the Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership among small and medium countries that are trade dependent that want to come together and strengthen supply chain resilience. Hopefully we can show the way forward for other like-minded economies to join and follow the same way. We want to be able to push ahead with a multilateral rules-based training system despite the challenges we see in the world."
Additionally, Gan said he hoped that Singapore can work with partners to think about the World Trade Organisation (WTO) can be transformed because "WTO is still an important foundation for this rules-based training system."
