Singapore seeks deeper ties with Germany to boost trade between ASEAN and EU: Gan Kim Yong

In an increasingly fragmented and uncertain global landscape, Singapore needs to work closely with like-minded partners to expand its economic space, maintain supply chain resilience and uphold a rules-based international order, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his March 25-28 visit to Germany, DPM Gan said that beyond strengthening bilateral ties, Singapore and Germany can also cooperate on promoting multilateral relations between the European Union and ASEAN regions.

Singapore will assume the ASEAN chairmanship in 2027, coinciding with the grouping’s 60th anniversary.

“There are many platforms on which we can work together,” DPM Gan said, adding: “I hope that I will be able to meet some of my counterparts to strengthen understanding and collaboration between Germany and Singapore and to discuss issues relating to the EU, Singapore, as well as the region (ASEAN).”

Singapore and Germany have also­ been making efforts to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO), said DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry.

Members of ASEAN and the EU have benefited immensely from rules-based multilateralism. Hence, Singapore and Germany have much to gain if they can rewrite the rules of global commerce to contain protectionism.

DPM Gan said: “What is important to remember is that Singapore and the EU both very much believe in a rules-based trading system. Both of us want to reform the WTO to strengthen the multilateral system because both of us have prospered and grown and developed under this multilateral system.”

He said that while tariff negotiations will remain a bilateral issue with the US, countries around the world can still seek opportunities to further integrate with one another.

“This is important because as the world becomes more contested, competition will rise, and there will always be this tendency and temptation to be more nationalistic, to want to protect your own industries,” he said.

Germany is the world’s third-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), behind the US and China. Nestled in Central Europe between the Baltic Sea and the Alps, the industrial powerhouse accounts for about a quarter of the EU’s total GDP, making it one of the most influential members in the 27-nation grouping.

In 60 years of diplomatic ties, Germany and Singapore have enjoyed close bilateral economic cooperation. The relationship between the two nations was elevated to a strategic partnership in 2024.

There are more than 2,300 German companies in Singapore in various sectors, including manufacturing and services. They provide about 45,000 jobs.

The Singapore-Germany Year of Innovation was launched in February 2026 to intensify collaborations in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, microelectronics and biotechnology.

DPM Gan said both Germany and Singapore are gateway economies that serve as entry points for commerce, finance and logistics between Europe and Asia, hence offering opportunities for each country’s companies to access trade and investment across regional markets.

“We can strengthen the supply chain between Singapore and Germany for both ASEAN and Europe,” he said, adding that he will also explore how digital connectivity can be reinforced.

The EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) entered into force in November 2019, while the EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement (EUSDTA) took effect in February 2026.

The agreements strengthen bilateral trade by removing all tariffs on both sides and setting transparent rules that make cross-border digital transactions easier, more predictable and more reliable for businesses and consumers.

The only other ASEAN member to have an FTA with Germany is Vietnam.

Talks on an EU-ASEAN FTA were launched in 2007 but failed to gain traction, as ASEAN member states’ positions were too divergent.

Following a gradual restart in 2017, ASEAN and the EU have agreed to proceed along two trajectories: one with the EU negotiating FTAs with individual ASEAN states, and concurrently, discussions on a broader FTA between the two groupings.

DPM Gan said it is not easy to negotiate between two regions.

However, during his visit, he will hold talks on strengthening German-ASEAN and EU-ASEAN relations, especially relating to the digital economy.

DPM Gan said Singapore will continue to explore the possibility of a digital economic agreement between the EU and ASEAN.

“(With) Singapore being the chairman next year, I think it is in our interest to make sure that the relationship continues to strengthen between ASEAN and the EU.”

In Berlin, DPM Gan will meet German leaders including Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space Dorothee Bar, Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation Karsten Wildberger, and Mr Stefan Rouenhoff, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, as well as other members of the Bundestag.

He will also be meeting German business chambers, including the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce and the Federation of German Industries.

In Hamburg, DPM Gan will be the foreign guest of honour at the Ostasiatisches Liebesmahl (East Asian Love Feast) organised by the German East Asia Association to strengthen trade links between Germany and the Asia-Pacific.

He will meet First Mayor of Hamburg Peter Tschentscher to discuss possible areas of cooperation between Singapore and Hamburg, and leaders from German multinational corporations and Mittelstands (German SMEs) to explore opportunities for growing Singapore-Germany business linkages.

Today, Germany is Singapore’s largest EU trading partner in goods, with bilateral trade amounting to $23.4 billion in 2025.

It was also Singapore’s third-largest EU trading partner in services, with bilateral trade in services amounting to $14.1 billion, in 2024.

Germany was Singapore’s fifth-largest EU investor, with Germany’s foreign direct investment value in Singapore amounting to $26.1 billion, in 2024.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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