the minimum wage takes effect. this is business as on the double younger health as welcome. singapore and the european union are one step closer to signing off on the free trade deal it's a sign of the e.u. deeper push for open market accords with countries all over asia the european parliament will vote on the deal by wednesday afternoon and it looks like it will pass that first hurdle it's the use first trade agreement with a member of the association of i'm sorry southeast asian nations a group of countries in the region that have teamed up to promote economic growth the deal mc remove all barriers to trade within five years in twenty seventeen trade in goods alone between the un singapore amounted to more than fifty three billion euros it's hoped the agreement will result in a rise of up to ten percent in ballarat will trade the u.s.

already singapore's more important export destination for services and singapore is one of the used largest trading partners in the region. but the new trade agreement with singapore is not without its critics german social democrat and chairman of the e.u. parliament pollens trade committee says a sense of personal lacks in commitment to workers' rights my colleague max hoffman spoke to him earlier today in brussels. mr long your party the german s.p.d. rejects the free trade agreement with singapore why. two side of the coin it's a quite good agreement but indian women there is all too clear when quest for the singapore insight to what you find the sweet out saying oh core level convention and this is the other side of the coin the senior police are not really committed to do so until it's about workers' rights workers rights the collective bargaining

possibilities under discrimination of work as a workplace and we ask for a long long time i myself was in singapore last year in february ask and i'm sure that you are really committed to do so and nothing happened and for the decided not to vote for the agreement because it really worth i mean the advantages seem to be quite big most are expecting a ten percent increase in trade over the next five years between the e.u. and singapore is it really worth jeopardizing the agreement for those two workers' rights norms that you're criticizing it's in total three but the most important i mentioned but we remember we want to have a twenty fault strategy so that the benefit of trade comes to the people on the ground. fundamental work of art so you like to have independent trade unions is it

crucial instrument to guarantee that workers are really benefiting from the increase in trait in the past for example for seats and also for tea to the negotiations the criticism was often that these free trade agreements only benefit the big companies big money and not regular people isn't this the case for this agreement as well. of course there will be an increase in g.d.p. because of the trade. women and once again we have to go and see that the people on the ground are really benefiting from that and therefore we are really the crest of seeing a points to show their commitment in which occasions is fundamental black and white by the way we have numb is also in discussion about the trade agreement and vietnam is reflecting our request to they're preparing for a neighbor called in vietnam so that's a white approach do you have a feeling that people are less up in arms as they were in the past against these

free trade agreement have people in the european union accept that they are necessary there's an open discussion and i think that's also important because modern trade agreements have not only to deal with terrorists but also has rules to stand it's because labor and environmental rights and therefore an open to and spend discussion is necessary and i think this is one killer meant to have to get acceptance for twenty agreements so long and thank you very much. from brussels but here's another thing that's two hundred fifty six billion euro cents the amount of bilateral investment volumes between the e.u. and singapore that's brilliant and they're hanging who is in singapore. is a tiny country at how can the e.u. singapore trade and investment volume be so big. well singapore may be tiny but it is quite the powerhouse in that interview with the b.b.c.

a prime minister did it meant that the f.t.e. was an ambitious move that being said singapore has always been a very important. entity particularly with the e.u. just to give you an illustration of how that looks like the e.u. is singapore's biggest foreign investment as well as a lot of just foreign trade treat much a pun as you speak singapore currently is home to ten thousand european companies and that is growing so this agreement is not only going to that if it the big guys the small and medium enterprises in singapore as well as in the e.u. are going to benefit greatly from this agreement as well. with the rest of the asean countries have a similar agreement or will they strive to have a similar agreement with the you well the hope is that that will happen in the future how far away that future is remains to be unseen remains to be known this

most also is supposed to be a show or a demonstration of fostering and encouraging peaceful multilateral trade of trade relationships particularly amid the treaty tensions that's happening between the u.s. and china are right now under the e.u. singapore f t a exports originating from us and countries are going to be considered it as a originating from singapore as well so this is going to be a very cerebral route of benefits between the e.u. singapore as well as these asean countries. and hang them on the they try to vary between european union and singapore thank you very much andrea. well now to some of the other global business news headlines the u.s. has one european allies against using equipment made by chinese telecoms provider

walk away secretary of state my compelled said on wednesday it would make it harder to work together germany and poland among countries considering banning products from y. way which has close ties to the chinese military. more trouble for german payment services provider why a card investors in the u.s. have filed a class action lawsuit they say the company violated federal securities laws a lawsuit alleges that why a car has misled investors by not disclosing that an executive in singapore was under investigation for money laundering. china's rail operators says more people have taken the train than ever before during this year's spring festival travel rush more than two hundred million passengers but the country's well network to the test many migrant workers have traveled home for the festival which began three weeks of. american whiskey makers are feeling the tremors after a major overseas markets imposed heavy duty is on their products in retaliation for

u.s. president donald trump's tariffs on elemental imports one sleeve is from candidate canada mexico mexico china and the european union took effect the collective us whiskey export fell by eight percent. unemployment in south korea is at a nine year high according to fresh government figures released today the reason another steep rise in the minimum wage in the nation. and that is well deserved apparently south koreans clock up some of the longest working hours around the world many spend up to sixty eight hours a week in the office last some of this was officially limited to fifty two hours though only for companies with more than three hundred employees but korean society is already paying a high price for this work ethic. and kruk had had enough of her country's work

ethic so much so that she quit her lucrative bank job and started teaching korean instead she still puts lots of hours in but the difference is that she now has far more flexibility. i used to work at a bank as well. use it i went to work around eight am and. i never knew when i was going to finish and i never had any personal. or. private life afterward. since the one nine hundred eighty s. south korea has experienced impressive economic growth its g.d.p. has risen steadily. and that's partly due to the long working hours says christopher a cd head of inzy bank in korea. and my experience in the corporate sector is that koreans are extremely dedicated. to work even on weekends they will

spend time with customers but the heavy workload has some clear downsides south korea's birth rate has been sinking for years it's one of the world's lowest that's a problem in a rapidly aging society. there's huge pressure for the younger generation to achieve it work something university professor maria lima is very aware of they suffer a lot their best our lives are very hard they have a hard time very nato personnel time and they're very anxious about the future future is not there and you know so they don't know if they will as much as they work hard nothing's guaranteed and as the country's economy expands its suicide rate goes up too according to the world health organization south korea has one of the highest rates of suicide worldwide. and crockett any rate is relieved that

she's managed to escape the clutches of her country's work ethic and go her own way . that's it for me on the business and. for today for more business news stories you can always go to our web site of course and that's d.w. dot com slash business find news and current affairs then thirty languages and follow us on facebook and twitter if you don't already do so. up next five after this quick check on global markets are much for watching business news asia you don't.

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