Overview
- Singapore announced it will begin negotiations for an FTA with the eight-member East African Community on June 9, a process that has been launched but has not yet produced a deal.
- During President Tharman’s state visit to Tanzania, the two countries signed five agreements covering avoidance of double taxation, public sector skills development, carbon trading under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, foreign ministry consultations, and trade facilitation.
- The double taxation treaty and other instruments require ratification or implementation steps before they take effect and are intended to lower barriers to cross-border investment.
- Practical cooperation and business forums highlighted complementary strengths in ports, logistics, agribusiness, the digital economy and health, and included plans for Duke‑NUS to work with Muhimbili University on Tanzania’s national sickle cell programme that affects about 11,000 newborns a year.
- If talks succeed, an EAC–Singapore FTA would be the EAC’s first pact with a non‑African partner and Singapore’s first African FTA, potentially opening ASEAN markets to East African exporters and prompting new trade and investment links once negotiations and ratifications proceed.