SWEDISH BAN ON ARMS EXPORTS

Mr S. Chandra Das asked the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence (a) why the Swedish Government has again imposed a ban on the export of defence materials to Singapore; (b) whether this will have any impact on our defence requirements; and (c) whether his Ministry and its defence related companies have alternative sources for similar defence materials.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Nobel Industrier, the Swedish company which owns Bofors, the arms manufacturer, issued a communique on 30th March, 1987 which stated that several countries - Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - had been involved in the illegal shipment of Bofors products to countries embargoed by Sweden. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on 1st April, 1987, through a press release, that the Swedish Government would no longer consider any matters concerning export of defence materials to Singapore. Since then, the Swedish Government has clarified that export licences which had already been issued remained valid even though shipments might not have taken place. However, new applications for export licences would not be processed.

It is MINDEF's policy to have alternative sources for defence materials to the maximum extent possible. Nevertheless, sudden restrictions in supply of defence materials, particularly when there are already standing contracts, must necessarily affect the equipping of the SAF in the short run. The ability of suppliers to effect delivery on time is always a critical consideration. Besides equipment performance and cost-effectiveness, MINDEF's procurement policy must now take greater account of how unpredictable the governments of the suppliers are likely to be in their policy on arms exports.

The action of the Swedish Government on 1st April, 1987 was sudden and unexpected. Only on 30th March, 1987 the Swedish Ambassador had informed our Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Swedish Government was not making allegations against the Singapore Government and was not blaming the Singapore Government for any non-compliance over End-User Certificates. He also expressed his government's desire for a dialogue between the two Governments to jointly clarify the matter. The Singapore Government agreed to consider any specific proposals from the Swedish Government. Since then, the two Governments have been in consultation to resolve the matter.