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Singapore, Pakistan discuss possible free trade deal

AFP, Singapore
Visiting Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said Saturday he discussed a possible free trade agreement (FTA) between his country and Singapore during a meeting with Prime Minister Goh ChokTong.
Atop level trade delegation from Singapore is to visit Pakistan in April to explore the possibility of such an arrangement, he said.
"Yes, we did certainly discuss it (a possible FTA)," Aziz told journalists after his meeting with the Singapore leader.
"I think the ministerial visit from Singapore to Pakistan in April will be a step in the right direction. Pakistan has already written to the government of Singapore to explore some mutually beneficial trading arrangement which could eventually lead to an FTA."
He said both nations can "develop a win-win partnership" that will allow Pakistani firms to access multinational corporations based here as well as Singapore companies as they expand into the region.
Singapore, a pioneer in a web of bilateral and regional free-trade accords, has signed agreements with the United States, Japan and Australia and is in negotiations for similar deals with several other countries, including India.
Aziz, who is here to promote a 500 million US dollar euro bond issue, also addressed Singapore's top business leaders. He invited them to invest in Pakistan, mentioning such fields as property, telecommunications and banking.
Pakistan will be issuing two new mobile phone licenses in the next quarter and 22 companies, including Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel), were among the
prequalified bidders.
Singapore-based SingTel, aside from operations in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, has a South Asian presence in India through its associate Bharti.
Aziz said the international furor sparked by the admission from Pakistan's top nuclear expert that he had leaked secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea was unlikely to affect the country's strong economic growth, which is seen to be close to 6.0 percent this year from 5.1 last year.
"Overall, we expect a double digit growth this year in exports, double digit growth in revenues and a growth rate which would be moving close to the 6.0 percent range.
"Definitely our target is 6.0 percent and that is what is we expect to maintain in the next several years," he said.