S'pore, Brazil reaffirm benefits of improving trade and investment
By Jeremy Koh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 12 November 2009 0014 hrs

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SINGAPORE: The inaugural meeting of the Brazil-Singapore Joint Committee on Promoting Trade and Investment was held in Singapore on Wednesday.

The meeting involved Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade and Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry. Both sides reaffirmed the benefits of improving trade and investment to encourage greater bilateral business flows.

In this regard, Singapore emphasised the importance of putting in place the necessary government-to-government frameworks. This could be in the form of a bilateral Investment Guarantee Agreement or Double Taxation Agreement to create a conducive business environment.

Both sides also discussed the importance of SME cooperation. In order to further discussions in this area, the Department of SME under Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade will work with SPRING Singapore.

The meeting also identified several priority areas of collaboration for further cooperation - including infrastructure, trade, agribusiness and biomedical sciences.

The next joint committee meeting is set to be held in Brazil next year.

- CNA/sc