Gan Kim Yong, Singapore’s deputy prime minister, during a panel session, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Despite rising trade tensions, Singapore still wants to push ahead with a “multilateral, rules-based trading system,” and sees further cooperation between ASEAN and the European Union.
This was according to Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who spoke at the Singapore Fintech Festival on Wednesday.
Gan, who is also Singapore’s minister for trade and industry, said in a fireside chat with DBS CEO Tan Su Shan that “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.”
He also added, “EU will not be part of ASEAN. ASEAN will not be part of EU, but it doesn’t stop [the] EU and ASEAN [to] come together to discuss areas that we can work together.”
Gan did say however, that this will take time, and the two sides will first discuss a digital economic collaboration, “how we can set out basic rules, and then consider next steps.”
Southeast Asia’s digital economy stands at over $300 billion in 2025 in gross merchandise value, according to the 2025 Google e-Conomy SEA report.
He said he hoped that ASEAN will have a digital economy agreement with the EU, as well as for the Southeast Asian bloc to work with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the CPTPP to find ways to facilitate trade investment.
The CPTPP refers to the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership that was formed after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in his first term.
“So I think there are a lot of opportunities still, despite the headwinds and the uncertainties we are seeing.”
Separately, Gan also said that Singapore would like to work with partners to think about how the World Trade Organisation can be transformed.
“WTO is still [an] important foundation for this rules-based trading system,” he said.
“We will need to transform because the current design architecture of WTO may no longer be workable, and it’s important for us to come together to discuss what is the way forward, what are the areas that require transformation,” Gan added.
