FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS (Benefits)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what kind of programmes does the Government plan to initiate in order to reap the benefits that will be derived from the recent successful Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) reached between Singapore and various countries; and (b) how can the recently retrenched employees from the banking sector be reskilled and trained to take up job opportunities arising from the successful FTAs.

The Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): Mr Speaker, Sir, our FTAs enhance Singapore's attractiveness to investors and strengthen our hub position in Asia. This is because the market access benefits and other preferential treatment that our FTAs carry will enhance the exports of companies in Singapore. Singapore companies and foreign investors will find it more attractive to invest in Singapore, thus generating more employment opportunities for Singaporeans.

Our efforts to ensure that businesses are able to benefit from the FTAs begin well before negotiations are concluded. In the course of the negotiations, we actively seek feedback and suggestions from the private sector, in order to find out where the problems are. Armed with this information, we are able to negotiate a better agreement for companies. For the FTAs that are still under negotiation, we strongly encourage companies and business organisations like the Singapore Business Federation to play an even more active role in this process.

Once an FTA is concluded, our focus turns to helping businesses understand the agreement so as to take advantage of them.

First, we seek to reach out to the general business community through the media, the Internet and seminars. Such large-scale programmes allow us to create a general awareness of FTAs.

Second, we recognise that a focused approach will be more effective in helping individual companies understand how they can directly benefit from the Agreements. Therefore, our economic agencies have also been in touch with Singapore-based companies to see how they can specifically leverage on FTA provisions to gain a greater competitive edge.

Companies may not always want to reveal details on how they organise their operations to Government agencies. Instead, they may wish to tap on their legal or accounting advisors or other consultants to advise them on how to take advantage of the FTAs. We would therefore welcome efforts by the legal and accounting professions, as well as management consultants, to develop capabilities to be able to advise their clients on international trade and FTA issues.

Ultimately, the extent to which Singapore benefits from these FTAs will depend on our people and businesses. Singapore businesses must seize the opportunities afforded by our FTAs to grow and expand internationally.

At the same time, Singapore workers must be prepared to retrain and prepare themselves for the new job opportunities that will be created as a result of the FTAs. The FTAs will not help us to hold on to jobs that are no longer competitive, whether in the manufacturing or services sectors.

Workers can take advantage of MOM's retraining schemes, such as the WorkSkills Training Programme (WSTP), the Self Employment Training Programme (SET), the Strategic Manpower Conversion Programme (SMCP) and the Skills Redevelopment Programme (SRP). Retrenched banking sector employees who are subsequently re-employed in the financial sector, can also take advantage of MAS' Financial Sector Development Fund Financial Training Scheme to upgrade their technical expertise.

We encourage workers and unions to look to the new opportunities provided by the FTAs, and take advantage of the resources provided by the Government to prepare themselves well for these opportunities.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo (West Coast): Sir, can the Senior Minister of State kindly enlighten how we can actually explain this whole concept and programme of the FTAs to the man-in-the-street because, according to the Prime Minister's statement a few days back, about 20,000 jobs can be created arising from the FTAs and especially so in the manufacturing and service sectors? There are many people who are finding hope in this announcement and if more could be done to communicate and make it more simple to the man-in-the-street, it will help a lot.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I think that is a good point. We have been doing a fair bit to publicise the FTAs. First, of course, the full text of the FTAs as well as the business guides are all posted on the MTI's website. The economic agencies are organising seminars and business briefings. We have done seminars on our FTAs with New Zealand and Japan and we also did a fairly large-scale briefing of SMEs sometime in the middle of this year. This process will have to go on, not just to build general awareness but also to build specific awareness of opportunities involved in each FTA. Another approach will be to work with the unions so that they get a better awareness of the specific opportunities that the FTAs provide for workers in their sectors.

Mr A. Nithiah Nandan (Nominated Member): Sir, I am very glad to hear that the Senior Minister of State will be briefing the unions. As a suggestion, maybe we could try ---

Mr Speaker: Mr Nandan, you are supposed to ask questions.

Mr Nithiah Nandan: All right. Will the Senior Minister of State consider having a dialogue session with the unions and also at the same time to work out specific programmes where the FTAs can positively benefit workers in general and where are the areas we need to identify to train them up?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, this is a useful suggestion that MTI and Ministry of Manpower can look into together.