Singapore signs free trade deal with four-nation Latin American bloc to boost trade, investment

Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (far right) with (from left) Argentina President Alberto Fernandez, Paraguay President Santiago Pena, Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou, at the signing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on Dec 7. - RICARDO STUCKERT

SINGAPORE: Singapore signed a ground-breaking free trade agreement (FTA) with four South American nations on Friday (Dec 8).

The deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – a group known by the Spanish acronym Mercosur – is Singapore’s first trade pact with these states and the bloc’s first such deal with a South-East Asian nation.