singapore singapore is a very small country if you look at the size of the population but in trade for whom it's pretty significant for german companies it's roughly $15000000000.00 euros that we trade with singapore every year it's you can compare this to canada i was just slightly bigger country and so it is pretty significant there also around 1600 german companies in singapore and they use it as a hub for other countries in asia so it's pretty important but i'm a company which which sectors are we talking about that will profit from this deal the most well this already a lot of trade between germany and singapore as specially cars machinery but also renewable energies or sector all medical devices for example they will all benefit from the open market and from for trade. in times of a us president that is really have. a free trade a verbal free trade out for your chief purpose of export oriented companies in germany others shifting towards asia well asia is already very important that is true but this trade of being the singapore small sign of like what you can achieve with free trade agreements because as you say right now we see almost every day new trade barriers coming up we have a w t o t

singapore. we are expecting singapore stops lower by around .3%. earlier this week, we were talking about merger monday. in singapore singapore real estate investment trust is planning to merge, according to people familiar with the matter. both companies have requested for a trading halt pending this announcement. if the property is backed by a thailand asset and is the main sponsor. let's get the first word headlines now with su keenan. withe are going to start china which says the u.s. has severely violated international law after president trump signed a bill that expresses u.s. support for hong kong protesters. beijing says the bill severely metals in china's internal affairs and reiterated its threat of retaliation. the hong kong government says the bill is "unnecessary and unwarranted." the bill requires an annual review of whether hong kong is sufficiently autonomous from beijing to justify its special trading status with the u.s. arewhile, hong kong police sending teams into the city's polytechnic university, ending a 10 day seizure against protesters barricaded inside. the aim is to restore the safety of t

devices here well i feel that's a problem that we share in singapore and in berlin and other parts of the world andrea hang there in singapore thank you so much. and now to some of the other business stories making news the u.s. federal aviation authority the f.a.a. has downgraded malaysia's air safety rating to category 2 according to media reports the new rating means that malaysia's air carriers can either add new service is to the u.s. to extend existing once the carriers will also be subjected to additional inspections at u.s. airports. a judge in malaysia has ordered former prime minister najib razak to enter a defense as part of his 1st trial over the one m d b scandal billions of dollars were stolen from the state investment fund logic told to the courts he plans to testify in his own defense. australia's main carrier quantas has pledged to achieve 0 net emissions by 2050 it's the 2nd airline to do so after british airways oh no i agee quantize is also investing about 30000000 euros of developing more sustainable aviation fuel. the united kingdom has avoided a technical recession after a contraction in the 2nd quarte

singapore. they are anchored in singapore, they are growing out of singapore but business happens around us. at is quite a good opportunity for fintech companies. haslinda: the profitable rate among fintech companies has always been an issue. sopnendu: let me put it this way -- the profitability question you are talking about, business to consumer companies. costs go up and on the negative side of the balance sheet. in singapore, a lot of the companies have b2b. we are the engine behind the digital transformation. you design the product, you solve the middle office strategy. there are good tech services. because the fintech, b2b, profitability is quite different. haslinda: the buzz is also surrounding the new digital bank licenses to non-bank companies. how many bitst, have you seen? give us some color. sopnendu: all i can say is interest is a seemly high. the good part is there's not a single entity that tries to solve the problem. tech expertise, business expertise. ram this kind of to business. that's a big difference between the traditional backing versus trying to solve the problems. has

singapore amounts to 53000000000 euros annually and it's hoped the agreement will result in a rise of up to 10 per cent in bilateral trade the european union is already singapore's most important export destination for. services and singapore is one of the largest trading partners in southeast asia now let's take a closer look at the matter with kevin heitman eye he's a foreign trade expert at the association of german chambers of industry and commerce good morning to you kevin good to have you here in the studio 1st of all. point out to us it is the this trade deal is the 1st that the e.u.'s claims with a member state of ozzy on how do they link together the e.u. as the biggest single market and singapore as a relatively small city state the morning well singapore as well it of the small iraq that when you look at the population of the size of the area of the land but if you look at trade in the if you look at the economy it's pretty significant the trade problem with germany is roughly around $15000000000.00 euros you can compare that for example to canada which is slightly larger than singapore but the trade value is similar so this is an if it can for the area for the german economy ok so what significance does this de

singapore when singapore was actually very very antrim. and have house with back. going to the bar get to see everybody's. green fries is very traumatic experience for a child eventually singapore invest in say anything. we move from the slums to public housing. this used to be the house that i live in my people in 600 square feet. this is my 1st flush toilet when we 1st saw the flash by then we were so excited that we feel i will reach. this is by this is a sculpture of myself when i was 1 3 yes oh i see then that's a piece of land here that is not used so i put the sculpture here this is all done illegally i don't have permission for this land but i want to make people more aware of the importance of the toilet. i think so because this point in time isn't even with the will launch the government's biggest ever claim is and sanitation drive which is aimed at them cleaning up the country and improving the sanitation facilities over the next 5 years. in the newspaper the prime minister modi one landslide victory promising every single indian family. dog i don't need. martha mug on the edge of a task. such about no larger than the government. itself i got enough here bob. but i r

singapore film festival. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore midnight here in london where prince andrew has decided to step back from his royal duties for the foreseeable future. it follows controversy surrounding his friendship with the convicted paedophile, jeffrey epstein. and his disastrous interview at the weekend with the bbc. the prince has denied having sex with a 17—year—old girl procured for him by epstein. but a number of organisations linked to his work have begun to distance themselves. nicholas witchell reports. driving himself into buckingham palace yesterday, the only sighting of prince andrew since the newsnight interview was broadcast. hostility towards him has shown no sign of lessening. "poison prince" and "pariah prince" were just two of the newspaper headlines this morning. at the same time, sponsors of his various initiatives and charities have continued to distance themselves from him. all this in response to a notably misjudged interview in which he failed to find either the right tone or the right words to respond to

singapore. but according to singapore, it imported many times that quantity.doesn't add up, but the government has never commented on it. reporter: in cambodia, sand used to be something that never ran out. now, it's a valuable resource, a vital material in the construction of booming asian cities. host: and cities are where it's at for many seeking a more osperous life. big urbacecenters aroundnd the world d are burstingng at the s. foforecasts suggggest that by , up to two-thirds of the global population will live in large cities. and that has a knock-on effect in the countsiside. villages arere dying out.. many places are seeing a rural exodus of unprecedented proportions. how can village life be made appealing again? one russian entrepreneur is trying to help. reporter: welcome to malyj turysch, a small village deep in turysch, a small village deep in the ural mountains. only 20 houses are inhabited. there used to be 500 people living here. now there are only 50. it's one of the many thousands of villages in russia that was dying out. but then guzel c came

singapore stands at $53000000000.00 euros per year it's hoped the agreement will result in iraq of up to 10 percent in bilateral trade the e.u. is already singapore's most important export destination for services and singapore is one of the e.u.'s margin trading partners in southeast asia earlier i spoke to kevin hyde nice he's a foreign trade expert at the association of german chambers of industry and commerce and i asked him why the world's biggest single market and a relatively small city state were so eager to link up. the morning well singapore is relatively small you're right when you look at the population of the size of the area of the land but if you look at trade in the if you look at the economy it's pretty significant the trade one with germany is for awfully around 15000000000 euros you can compare that for example to canada which is slightly larger than singapore but the trade value is similar so this significant for the area for the german economy ok so what significance does this deal have for german distances well german businesses get all the benefits that a trade agreement usually gets it gets lower tariffs that means lower costs for the companies less bureaucracy for example it also mea

growing strongly across asia and in singapore to we have seen the growth of the game in singapore from two pubs to 11 or 12 to there are no about 2500 players in singaporethe profile from this tournament is fantastic for the game generally across the region to you are involved with rugby in singapore.- more asian players taking on the game, if not the 15 aside, women's and seven aside as well? schools play a lot of sevens in particular. we see the growth of the girls contact game in singapore coming through and a lot of the local multicultural environment that rugby is saying. you and your father did not have tickets for the final. how much did you pay for the tickets?” have no idea. we have category b tickets in the face value is 70,000 yen, just under $700 us. we got them yesterday and were lucky enough to find a gentleman who was prepared to let them go to us at face value. we are lucky to some fans are paying a lot more. i understand so. it has caused a lot of angstrom some of the prices being paid. lastly, harry, south africa, i know they are underdogs for this game but they have a tight defence and they restricted wales in the semi—final. what is

singapore in this? how big is southeast asia what's your next frontier? >> sure. i think singapore is a key this area. singapore played a very leading role in the doption of blockchain technologies and cryptocurrency. has some of the smartest government regulators around, and they in depth understanding of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. upheld some of the most rigorous and sensible regulations. will hink singapore play a key role in southeast asia and beyond. i'm rather interested in what you will be doing in hina and what your china strategy is given also, there is a speech about blockchain recently, and effect on huge the space. connected ch was with advising jinping, saw heir stock go on an absolute tear. >> yes. so we're also seeing that happening. simple.tegy is very i think we want to follow the recommendations very to ely and we want promote the blockchain technology, research and development and we're of ing at a number initiatives in the area and e just want to help out where we can. libra?d you list can't make predictions before it comes down so we'll take a closer look out but our matrix i

they all have singapore airlines, you know, pa rt have singapore airlines, you know, part of the national strategy is to stop at a singaporeas. it is because it means that traffic will be taken away from those hubs that you mentioned but the thing is this, will consumers, i mean, there is something to be said about cutting the journey, having a look around, shopping, getting yourself ready for the next 11. after nearly 20 hours, i‘m not sure you will be same. imagine if you are either with your own children or somebody else‘s. either with your own children or somebody else's. mine drive me man —— mad. mine too. let‘s brief you on some of the other stories making the news. there‘s been another shooting at an american school. two students have been killed, several more were seriously hurt. los angeles police say a student, identified as nathaniel berhow, pulled a semi—automatic pistol from his backpackjust as the school day was beginning at saugus high, in the town of santa clarita. after firing on fellow pupils he turned the gun on himself, but survived. it was his sixteenth birthday. he has been arrested and taken to hospi

singapore. there has been a large increase in foreign currency deposits to singapore but that hasn't translated to singapores necessarily but in general, a bit of a safe haven but unusual for this point in the cycle. quite expensive based on our expectations of what we think the mas my needs to be doing going forward with monetary policy, which is further easing. our guest yesterday was arguing about hong kong and how essentially it will maintain its preeminence. of said forget about things how much it contributes to the chinese economy in aggregate, but she was saying it allows china to have its cake and eat it too. it gives china to separate -- two separate credit ratings, two separate customs territories and two legal systems, common-law which is universal. tell me about that. jason: i think that is one of the big advantages of hong kong. that's not going to go away. it may diminish a little bit given the political unrest is not goingt it to become a serious issue as far as hong kong status until shanghai gets to appoint where the market -- gets to a point where markets are open more, the regulatory fram

dyson has been building up its presence in singapore over the yea rs its presence in singapore over thenounced it would build a new electric car here but the project was scrapped because it was not seem to be commercially viable. mr dyson said it was done for economic reasons. it makes vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, air dryers. most products are designed in the uk but manufactured right here in asia. now let's brief you on some other business stories: manchester city's parent company, city football group or cfg, has agreed to buy a majority stake in indian super league side mumbai city fc. cfg is buying 65% of mumbai city, meaning the group will now hold a stake in eight football clubs. it already holds controlling stakes in manchester city, us side new york city fc and australia's melbourne city — as well as minority shareholdings in clubs in china, spain, uruguay and japan. us investment bank morgan stanley has fired or placed on leave at least four traders for allegedly hiding losses of between $100 million and $140 million according to bloomberg. the bank has refused to comment on

singapore which are seeking solutions for the rising sea levels. mildly singapore in parts 96 percent south all the influence and so it's see which in part that they are surrounded by water so you can imagine this is a project this is face suitable for their yeah like singapore and though we have talking to the authorities so yeah that that's absolutely one of the next building sharks will be over there and soon counties won't be the only ones are docking to an aquatic life style chicken factories and greenhouses will also soon be taking to the water. air v. and the has signed a deal worth a reported $500000000.00 with the international olympic committee to sponsor the games until 2028. it's the accommodation booking top forms 1st major global sponsorship and it will begin with the tokyo a live picture in 2020 the move allows air b.n. b. to use the olympic rings in advertising the company's 2nd quarter revenue a $1000000000.00 and it's planning an i.p.o. next year. that's it for me on the business teams here in berlin for more news and features do check out our website that's details view dot com slash business you can also get the latest on social media on our facebook and twitter pages will leave you with a look at global markets but for me i'm a team it's

singapore they just don't they probably just they're not find it important enough like complying with the singapore government was probably not seen hurting them branding enough to be worth the cost of not complying and there is a high cost comply in the fine that could go up to a $1000000.00 singapore dollars and after conviction for not complying you can still be fined $100000.00 singapore dollars per day if you still don't comply and so i think that plus the fact that it would damage the business relationship with the government probably what's what effect that into this thing that the cost of not complying it's far higher 'd than the cost of complying and just to get back to to have this relates to to singapore's case because the government there has has argued in this case and in the past that it is particularly vulnerable to to what they consider fake news because of its position in the world is this kind of global financial hub with them with a very mixed ethnic and religious population you couple couple that with the internet access and there's a worry did these kind of stories could could inflame those tensions what would you say to that. i think they haven't fully demonstrates why be so much more vulnerable than everyone else because we also have a population who are very

singapore. ravi menon, thank you so much for your time today. ravi: thank you, haslinda. haslinda: when it comes to singapore's innovation efforts, one of the key areas is fintech and the monetary authority of singapore huge role in that. in fact, some of the initiatives

singapore international film festival kicks off on thursday with a movie from local writer—director anthony chen. wet season follows the illicit relationship between a school teacher and her young male student in singapore. the film's female star yeo yann yann is up for best leading actress at taiwan's prestigious golden horse awards, dubbed the "chinese 0scars". she's been telling me why she took the role. this is the second time i collaborate with anthony chen. we have really great experience working together. when he invited me and asked me whether i wanted to be in wet season i said yes. even though he did not really want to cast me. he had already cast someone else and to him we are like family. so there is a little stitch in his heart. a family indeed. your co—star played your son in an another anthony chen film in 2013 which was award—winning. how did you prepare for this film? a kid who is now your co—star? i have to thank the audience first. the audience really loved this mother and son and it has already become an iconic mother and son. so for the director it was very difficult. kinda difficult for him. 0ffscreen he called you mummy! since he was 11. and now when we were filming he was 18. was it awkward? it is not. the first time he was filming with me he was new, it was his first time so i helped him a little and said not to call him any other names, call me mummy. that was the first day when i met him. what about the issue of women in film? asian women in particular. what kind of issues and challenges you face in the film industry? in the film industry. i think in asia, i mean, i can only speak for malaysia and singaporetry. 00:25:31,715 --> 2147483051:49:30,572 it is small and emerging 2147483051:49:30,572 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 industry so there are maybe later on in the day, towards the south—west of england — may be double figures here. more showers, a lot of cloud around really on friday but the potential for some wetter weather to develop towards the west country, south—west of england, then heading into the west midlands and wales, so showers merging to some longer spells of rain which could be quite heavy, actually. a few showers to come, things could develop a bit wetter towards the south—west. showers heavy for a while, merging into some longer spells of rain into the south—west of england in the west midlands, into west country and wales through the day. that's an area to watch as things get wetter. those temperatures, 9— 10 degrees. let's set into the weekend. it's a weekend dominated by low pressure. we got one slow—moving area of low pressure which is why we are seeing that rain develo

singapore banning electric scooters on footpaths, after a rise in accidents. it reports that anyone caught breaking the new rule could face a fine of up to 2000 singapore dollars or a jail sentence of up to three months. more now on our top story the deadly smog affecting delhi. i've been speaking to natasha mudhar, the founder of ‘the world we want‘, an organisation that aims to promote the un's sustainable development goals. i think by now, especially when you look at the sustainable development goals, i think we have always been ambitious about the project, ambitious about popularising the goals, creating that household chapter, where everybody knows that there is this to list that has been created for people and planets that you need to abide to. there needs to be certain accountability. that needs to precipitate across different sectors, government, corporate, media talent, ngos, mass markets. so when we see certain emergencies, climate emergencies like we are seeing in new delhi right now, it makes you wonder why enough is not being done to tackle this. when the issue of climate change is so popular, especially in today's day and age. so what are these barriers we are facing? why are governments, why are the media, why are people just not managing to deal with this? i thinkjust as there is not a single institution in the world that can solve the world's problem, i think we also have to remember it is not a single institution that is the cause and effect of those problems as well. there needs to be a collaborative effort. so while they will be a lot of media attention around the issues, government activism, certain policies being in place as well, you need to have a cross collaborative effort to really see change. lots of the change that we are looking out, as well, is behavioural. and any behavioural —related change takes time. so there is a lot of social transformation that needs to be done on the ground to really feel the impact. but when we had the situation say, with the focus very much on india at the moment, given just about the pollution is, when you have farmers who continue to burn their crops, what can you do on the ground straightaway? —— just how bad the pollution is. i've, when you look at the measures that were put in place even on monday, the government has 300 teams on the ground to actively pursue any farmers, to enforce restrictions on them, if they are illegally burning their land, as an example, right through to, you know, even various different schemes to limit the number of cars on the roads as well. so things are being done. but a lot of the pollution that we are seeing in delhi at the moment is quite seasonal. so any sort of measures that are put in place shouldn't be seasonal, but they need to be sustained, again, if you want to create but long—term action. this week singaporefestival. the political cartoonist chris riddell, who works for the observer newspaper in britain, is taking part. her says with president trump and brexit there's never been a better time for his profession. i am never without something to characterise in my cartons. what do you think a good political cartoon does, that perhaps other mediums can't? it is a visual medium, isn't it? so we can use metaphor. i often think of political cartoonists, as a visual image, i think we are sort of like koi carp and we wait for politicians to drop soundbites into our pool, and then we'll go for them. so obviously when boris talks about being dead in a ditch if we don't leave on october 31, we think, right, we can draw boris dead in a ditch in perpetuity. we are seeing some of your cartoons now on the screen. 0bviously drawing political cartoons is not an easy art. we know there have been issues in the past, the likes of cartoonists like her quest to guard who got into trouble for his depiction of t

singapore. but it shows boldness that defies anything. >> singapore is one of the major sources of counterfeit goodsthat are exported into the united states. it gets complicated. it's getting simplified. the president has signed the shopping congress human rights and democracy act. and it is now law. he acknowledges that it complicates the u.s.-chain a trade discussions. but he signed it. he's standing up. this country is standing up for those no democracy forces in hong kong. and if xi jinping is upset about it, that's too bad. that's who we are. >> for four decade elites in this country said we could not afford to upset china. president trump, you know, he's doing something his predecessors would not do, and that's defend america. the same power encroaching on hong kong's economy is attacking ours across the board. this is a great day for every free society around the world. lou: for this president to stand tall for american values, and our fundamental values of freedom and liberty, and certainly law, is critically important. i'm very proud of this president, and i'm proud of this country in doing

singapore will remove all tariffs on the products that are entering the country while the e.u. will remove tariffs on 84 percent of all singapore products that are entering the e.u. within the 1st year and how the the additional 16 percent will be removed over a $3.00 to $5.00. your period singapore is the e.u.'s largest trading partner in asia southeast region with a total of bilateral trade of over $58000000.00 in goods and just over $56000000.00 worth of trade in services and the agreement includes sections on renewable energy investments e-commerce and even intellectual property theft president of the european commission john junker said this is the european union's 1st bilateral trade agreement with a south east asian country a building block towards a closer relationship between europe and one of the most dynamic regions in the world while european commissioner for trade cecilia mon strong said our trade agreement with singapore provides further evidence of our commitment to fair and rules based trade the agreement will benefit workers farmers and companies of all sizes both here and in singapore. the european union's competition commissioner margaret vest a juror wants to take a deeper look at apple pay the top regulator previously had sent out a questionnaire to merchants

singapore. we have a bigger presence in singapore. we have a bigger operation from australia to singapore. ciary, image traffic moves from one city to another. about: i want to ask you the potential for the max aircraft to become part of your fleet. toxic?brand too >> i am a big believer that boeing and company will fix this. we have seen problems with other aircraft in the past. we -- 75, 737, aircraft with 21 717 and 70 100s over the next few days gates -- the few decades have to be replaced. if boeing commits the 717 in the max, that will be a viable alternative. we thing boeing will fix this. will be a good competition dear. shery: plenty more to come on daybreak asia including details on wework's quarterly loss. this is bloomberg. ♪ haidi: this is daybreak asia. work continues to burn cash, more than doubling its loss last quarter. big in anticipation of an ipo that was ultimately pulled. are these numbers surprising at all given what we already know? >> it is interesting to look at these numbers in context of what wework expected to happen in 2019. as early as this summer, they were a

in singapore, in the middle of the trading day and the trading week my it is pretty flat on the singapore times index. seeing some upside and some of the commercial trust today, n among them, singaporeut you've seen singapore airlines under pressure. the dollar trading lower against the dollar. let's get the first word headlines with su keenan in new york. su: we start with the profit at the chinese industrial company. it slumped the most in almost a decade this year. official figures show a drop of nearly 10% in october, compared to 2018. the national bureau of statistics blames a big are decline in producer prices and the slowdown in production and sales. moving to the u.k., sterling weakens as the conservative party may be losing its lead ahead of next month selection. investors most fear and inconclusive result next month, and polls show that labour could be making up ground. a hung parliament raises the possibility that the impact of brexit could drag on into the new year. sterling has gained nearly 8% since december 3 year low. malaysia has won a victory in the u.k. that will allow public hearings in a dispute between one mvb in an investment fund. the legal battle is about ho

singapore will remove all tariffs on products that are entering the country while the e.u. will remove tariffs on 84 percent of all singapore products that are entering the e.u. within the 1st year and how the the additional 16 percent will be removed over a 3 to 5 year period singapore is the e.u. the largest trading partner in asia southeast region with a total of bilateral trade of over $58000000.00 in goods and just over 50 $6000000.00 worth of trade in services and the agreement includes sections on renewable energy investments e-commerce and even intellectual property theft president of the european commission john carr juncker said this is the european union's 1st bilateral trade agreement with a south east asian country a building block towards a closer relationship between europe and one of the most dynamic regions in the world while european commissioner for trade cecilia monstro said our trade agreement with singapore provides further evidence of our commitment to fair and rules based trade the agreement will benefit workers farmers and companies of all sizes both here and in singapore. the european union's competition commissioner margaret vest a juror wants to take a deeper look at apple pay the top regulator previously had sent out a questionnaire to me

joining us is stephen chicken skate in singapore -- stephen chesson ski in singapore. is capping for the aramco ipo? >> they are tapping a number of the wealthiest folks inside the country. one of them is a group that does a number of business inside saudi arabia, and was a precursor to aramco starting the oil business. it has since become a contractor. they also franchise burger king's throughout the country. they're a major player, one of the wealthiest family-owned conglomerates. an interesting part of this, also that aramco is looking to get investors from folks that riskheld up in the riyadh carlson amid an anti-from action -- corruption swing. they are going to attract investors, folks not on the best of terms with, to try to bring more money into this enormous ipo. nejra: and the fact that saudi is looking for these commitments, should be take that as a signal they're really worried about demand? stephen: well, i think this is going to be a fundraising that has never been seen before in the history of ipo's. they're targeting a $2 trillion ipo. they're going to

singapore, down slightly in singapore, but we will likely see lackluster moves, which could put japanese stocks on course for the first weekly drop in six, while the yen expected to stay range bound on trade and hung congress. let's turn to the session and sydney. rc has halting a two-day decline but on course for the first weekly drop in three and this morning we have resource players leading gains while financials remain under pressure with the .ocus on west bank let's get a quick check on movers in sydney. laggards this the morning, i want to highlight main pharma falling as much as 14%. that would be the biggest drop since may, falling for a fifth straight day after posting a 16% yearly decline in group revenue through october as it faces competition. haidi: some of those early movers. let's get you to first word news in new york with jessica summers. jessica: markets continue to digest mixed signals from aging and washington as trade talks enter a crucial stage. china remains cautiously optimistic on a deal and has invited officials to further talks this month. matters are complicated, though, by washington's attitude to the protest in hong kong. terms are fire is expected to sign a bill supporting the democracy drive, and that may spark an angry reaction from beijing. global banks that have been advising on the saudi aramco ipo are being sidelined after the attracted only lukewarm interest. sources also tell us the international banks will not have access to the ipo order books without aramco's permission. minister prime narendra modi is putting the flagging economy front and center with the country's biggest privatization drive in more than a decade. tois also renewing attempts reform the crisis in the shadow banking sector. he wants to transform the economy into a $5 trillion operation by 2025. key ratesian left its unchanged while pumping more cash into the system to stimulate southeast asia's largest economy. bank indonesia cap the seven-day repurchase rate at 5% following for cuts this year. it also cut the reserve ratio by 50 basis points, the first such move since june. the governor says there's still room for more policy easing. president obama is warning that advances in technology are creating a .plintered world speaking at a salesforce.com conference in san francisco, he said new technology is allowing companies and citizens do more, but he says it is also fueling more extreme inequality and contributing to the growth of public anger and anxiety. news 24 hours a day on air and at tictoc on twitter powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 100 20 countries. i'm jessica summers. this is bloomberg. news ate have breaking the moment. we are hearing judy shelton has an article regarding .he fed judy shelton is president trump's most recent pic for the federal reserve board, and she shared her views on monetary policy and the fed with ubs group after speaking at an event on october 18 and washington saying she does not see any reference to independence in the legislation that has defined the role of the federal reserve of the united states, so shelton really casting doubt on the central bank independence when she spoke with a ubs executive and october on central bank policy. highly unusual for someone in that position to say anything, let alone question the independence of the body. let's get the latest on our top story, this ongoing wework saga, softbank looking to reduce the size of their investment. shery: this was very controversial from the get-go. what do we know? >> it seems like terrible objects, on the same day they laid off 2000 people, to have hanging over the discussions the notion there would be this tender offer where the cofounder who is responsible for the situation where we are now, might get 900 $7 million as part of that offer, so privately, softbank executives have been talking about is there a way to hold that tender offer where they do not have to pay that full amount to adam neumann? haidi: what is the structure of the current agreement that is in legallynd is it a huge legalout tussle to be able to renege on it? >> they could do it in a way that is not exactly reneging on it because the tender offer, which was about $3 billion, set aside to buy shares of we work -- wework at $19 billion and change requires that the people holding those shares sell them to softbank at that price, so behind the scenes, they could make some sort of arrangement neumann does not ask to sell his shares. there are some things they could do legally that would perhaps make this possible, and that is what they are exploring right now, and they are trying to be as generous as possible with wework employees, giving many up to four months severance, even wework just started at earlier this year, so i think they are very sensitive to wanting to appease rank-and-file employees, and it's hard to do that on one hand and give the already well compensated ceo another $970 million on top of that. sarah mcbride, thank you. when apple released the iphone 11 and september, it also launched its latest operating system, and it did not go exactly to plan, that launch. apple is making some big changes in response. our technology reporter mark gurman has the story. we join him in los angeles. anecdotally, you always see people complaining, don't do the latest software update because it does not work as well. is it just people complaining, or were there actual glitches that work quite problematic for apple? mark: the signal-to-noise ratio is always important to discuss in matters like this, but it's a real problem and apple engineers have known for months that ios 13, or at least the initial version, was not up to par quality-wise. what does this overhaul say about the importance of those launches? : ios is really what makes their devices work and tick. you could have the best hardware in the world, but if the software is not optimized to take advantage of it, it really means nothing, so these devices without thell software, so they have to get it as buttery smooth as possible, high-performing along with features in order to make the best overall performance for consumers and prevent them from defecting to android. particularly with this all important shift to services, right? thank you for joining us with that exclusive on apple. up next, the pimco vice-chairman is with us at the bloomberg new economy forum. we are live in beijing. ♪ this is bloomberg. with the u.s. and china seemingly edging toward an initial trade deal, investors are asking what kind of impact such an agreement could have on their respective economies. haidi: joining us now to discuss all of that is pimco's vice-chairman. great to have you joining us. are you more optimistic that policymakers are getting close to finding solutions to difficult problems like the trade war? >> the trade talks continue. i'm not in the room. i think there are a number of people who are in the room, and i think we are confident both countries want to find a resolution -- certainly a phase one resolution, but as we know, the trade talks are sort of a symbol and symptom of the need to resolve broader business and diplomatic relations between these two important and formidable countries. shery: what should investors do in this environment where there is a lot of movement in terms of where we are in the negotiations ? how cautiously optimistic we are, at any given time, things can change with a tweet, with a comment, with a remark. respond tos volatility, as you know. what u.s. investors are looking at is volatility in terms of confidence, and as long as the trade talks continue unresolved, what they know is the chief executives of u.s. companies are going to be reluctant to make definitive capital expenditure decisions, and that is postponing investment, and that is something which could have an impact on earnings going forward . the u.s. consumer, though, continues to be very much in a spend, spend, spend mode. bank onf we continue to trade headlines, what will we see in terms of the treasury market? a selloff on progress and again buying just because of these pessimistic headlines? is this a dynamic we will continue to see? a period of volatility and one of the things we are focusing on is the economy is slowing down. we don't really see a recession in the next 12 months except anything that remotely represents any type of air pocket or disruption is going to cause a short-term challenge to confidence. for example, the big black swan of 2019 -- the only black swan of 2019, really, has been what has happened in hong kong. no one really predicted that. really pretty good that even though it was something that was clearly bubbling under the surface for a wild. when you look at something like hong kong and a lack of options on the table for both sides, does that make you want to sidestep that market? quick scary interesting. hong kong is a very stable market. if you look at the capital markets over this whole period of volatility on the violence, remember the hong kong currency is pegged to the dollar. the hong kong stock exchange is probably one of the most professionally transparent and regulated in the world. it's very much in line with the best of the new york stock exchange and the london stock exchange. investors are very comfortable with hong kong as a capital market. what has happened in hong kong is less in terms of capital market and more at the consumer level. if you talk to the consumer companies here at the conference, they see a marked decline in consumption among luxury products and other types of usage. even yesterday, one of the credit card companies was telling me the use of their credit card in hong kong has declined materially because of the -- what's taking place on the streets. shery: you are not hearing concern about the money markets in hong kong? theaps some people saying hong kong dollar being pressured away from that currency peg. >> one of the things we are all excited about is remember in 2020, china is going to open up their financial services market to international ownership and i'm actually hoping we can use this to rebalance the discussions on the u.s.-china relationship because it has been very focused on technology, but when you actually look at financial services, the chinese have been very open-minded about bringing financial institutions -- international financial institutions into their market. it is a $43 trillion market, and they want international expertise and experience in that market. 20/20 is important. pimco is very excited about the chinese market. it is a $12 trillion bond market. it is actually a bigger bond market than japan. will you be adding positions in china? >> we are talking to be csrc about our position there. position right now in shanghai, but we have an ongoing discussion, and we, of course, have prioritized china through our emerging markets vehicles, but we are going to take it a step further in 2020. haidi: what will it depend on, taking it a step further? >> i think we are confident that the chinese government is very open about how it involves international players in this market. remember china has always strategically invited foreigners .n they see american institutions as -- the chinese banking sector hasn't always been an easy or attractive foreigners to wander into. >> i'm familiar with that, but i'm also very focused on 2020, and all the indications are that this transition is going to take place and to a certain extent, it needs to take place because remember, china wants to establish further its government bonds and broaden its credit profile among international investors. haidi: the trade tensions, has that negatively impacted investor interest in chinese assets at all? >> a lot of people access china through emerging market indices. i would say people still see that aspect of it as an attractive bed. shery: we've been talking about the black swan essentially being all these trade tensions. the fednow heard from .ic from president trump >> the fed is an independent group. it is an impressive group. i worked a lot into thousand eight when i was managing overseeing the api restructuring. i did a lot of work with the new york fed then, and i saw how well coordinated they were between the pboc, the bank of england, bank of japan, and european central bank. i think jerome powell has played this game with a very straight back, and i think what is interesting is the policy is in a good place, but i think what is even more important is he and the president both prioritized two things -- they both prioritized the economy, and they both prioritized the labor market, and i think there is an enormous amount of respect and the need to keep the institution independent, and it remains independent. shery: thank you so much for your time this morning i joining us here in beijing. the new economic forum is organized by bloomberg media group, a division of bloomberg lp, the parent company of bloomberg news. haidi: this is bloomberg. ♪ >> it's a very complex, multilayered situation. the business environment is still ok and the impact on our business has been ok. not seen an have impact. i think people are taking kind of a wait-and-see attitude and i think the central expectation is somehow this will get resolved. >> there's a downward pressure on economic activity. i think we can expect to see more impact here. >> to be honest, so far we have not seen any outflows or major movements. >> i don't see any change in the behavior of clients that are significant financial players in hong kong. some of our guests at the new economy forum staying optimistic. haidi: really interesting that john from pimco just said saying that capital markets are still functional even if the city is getting more dysfunctional by the day. that turmoil is expected to continue, hong kong headed for district elections on monday. the political system will be almost a key referendum on these protests. here's why they will matter more than ever. >> at stake are 18 district councils across hong kong with 452 constituency members. the candidates are mainly split between those from pro-establishment parties, which basically means pro china, and those from pro-democracy ones. there's also a lot of independents, for candidates who prefer to avoid the party tag. at the moment, the electoral map of hong kong looks heavily pro establishment, but embolden by months of antigovernment protests, the pro-democracy parties have been campaigning harder than ever, building a record number of candidates and working together to combine resources. and not just locals symbolic influence that is at stake as whichever side wins the most strict counselors can also ensure they get around 10% of the seats on an exclusive committee who selects the hong kong chief executive. candidates running for chief executive must get backing from at least half that committee before being appointed, so while it is not an automatic game changer, a small slice would still be a big deal for pro-democracy parties who have long complained the committee is packed with pro china loyalist. voter turnout an interest for these elections is not great, but it is growing with an increasing number of people registered to vote and the big student population that has probably never been more politicized, this time, district council elections will matter more than ever. >> markets open in tokyo and seoul at the top of the hour. sophie: the regional benchmark could avoid a second straight week of declines. the minis little changed after a drop to the downside. checking in quickly on the end, we see little reaction to japan's inflation data for october, and offshore yuan study in the 703 zone after reaching 705 thursday ended conflicting trade reports. a snooze first with global volatility sitting there all-time lows as traders attempt to assess where the next bout of turbulence may come from. at there coming up ahead open in tokyo and seoul. this is bloomberg. ♪ when it comes to using data, everyone is different. which is why xfinity mobile is a different kind of wireless network that lets you design your own data. choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. and now get $250 off when you buy a new samsung phone during xfinity mobile beyond black friday. plus, you can save up to $400 a year. click, call or visit a store today. >> very good morning. i am haidi stroud-watts. we are at the new economy forum in beijing. global leaders in business and finance are tackling the challenges facing the international economy in the year ahead. shery: i am shery ahn. welcome to "daybreak asia." haidi: out of stories this friday, stocks slide on slipping trade signals. china remains optimistic that there is concern over u.s. support for protests in hong kong. the city votes this weekend in district elections that will be a key referendum on months of unrest. shery: asia's rapid population growth -- millions of hungry mouths.the challenges facing agriculture. let's get straight to the action with sophie in hong kong. the japanese markets back online. >> you have the nikkei and the topix little changed after a three-day decline. little reaction in the yen to cpi which picked up a touch. lower energy prices at to that drag on price growth. it remains to be seen if kuroda will take the signal that risks are remounting to price momentum. check in on the kospi, which is holding steady after a four-day decline while the asx 200 also resuming gains, up .5%. we are seeing tv shares under pressure and s&p -- moving to the way .1%, extending declines after we saw the benchmark slide for a third straight down thursday. let's switch out the board to check in on treasuries this morning, looking fairly steady after drifting lower thursday, ending a flattening streak with a 10 year yield around 1.77. the offshore yuan holding around 703 as trade in hong kong risk remains. we were telling you about the distinction he sees happening in capital markets versus the situation for the consumer space. a cosmetics player to close 30 stores over the coming year. it will only consider renewing its lease if the rate is cut 50%. haidi. haidi: sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. let's get to new york. jessica summers has the first word news. jessica: president trump has signed a four-week spending bill that puts off a possible government shutdown until december 20. the senate cleared the measure in a 74-20 vote after. the stopgap became necessary because congress failed to complete action on the 12 annual spending bills needed to keep agencies operating by the october 1 start of the fiscal year. the u.k. election campaign has seen labor publishing their most radical manifesto from a major party in decades. promising to raise tax revenues , free university in vestednd care interests who are the enemies of ordinary people." bankers,f the billionaires, and the establishment thought we represented politics as usual, then we could be bought off. nothing would change. they would not attack us so ferociously. why bother? what we say. they know we will deliver our plans. stop is why they want to us being elected. jessica: benjamin netanyahu is to face trial for corruption. he has been charged with bribery , fraud, and breach of trust in a move that could halt his career. netanyahu is the first sitting israeli leader to be indicted. the justice ministry painted a picture of a politician who abused his position and sacrifice to the integrity of his office. netanyahu says the investigation is "tainted and did not pursue the truth." global news, 24 hours a day, on air and @tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am jessica summers. this is bloomberg. take a look at what our mliv team are watching today. mark cranfield joins us from singaporeand japan cpi numbers. even with the tax hike last month, that is going -- that did not boost inflation that much. mark: indeed. it has been low for a very long time. you keep on hearing the bank of japan governor kuroda saying it has been very difficult to get it to move up towards the 2% target. the numbers today reinforce that. the bigger story in japan is where they go now on fiscal stimulus and whether the bank of japan can steepen the curve. they are parallel issues. we have already seems prime minister abe has given where he wants to see a supplementary budget that will come in to help to stimulate the economy and that could come into place in the first half of next year, so that will certainly give a boost to japanese markets. it may even start to see a little bit of an increase in inflation once that starts to come in. abouts also talk japan possibly issuing fifty-year japanese bonds. they have not gone that far so far, but other countries in the world have done. we have seen

singapore contract for the past seven months. we are seeing this impact on the market singapore pmi numbers. 47.4 would be the third month of contraction. they have been in contraction territory since august, and despite the fact that we have seen some positive sentiment around factory output returning to expansion, it is not reflected on that october singaporeing in at 47.4. singapore, yes, you are contracting, but you are not hong kong. i have to go through that number again. 49.3 for the market hong kong pmi. that is an all-time low. shery: i heard you say 30 something. we were already at a record low. i do gp on our bloomberg terminal. it is a nosedive, isn't it? haidi:haidi: i am waiting for a written -- haidi: i am waiting for a correction to come through. let's take a quick look at the markets. clearly, that is going to weigh on china markets when the hang seng starts trading in china later on today. let's take a look at how markets are trading. it has been a good news picture when it comes to this latest report from the financial times that potentially washington is considering a sweetener going into the signing of a phase one many trade deal -- mini trade deal. a separate report saying that china is reviewing the listed locations were president xi jinping could potentially meet donald trump in the u.s. to get this deal signed. we ar

singapore. we are seeing stocks in singapore has self. the fti index up by a quarter of 1%. bloomberg had an exclusive interview with the second-biggest bank in singaporeeady forme he a chinese digital banking invasion. n't necessarily new competition but the does expect regulators to ensure a level playing field. we will have more on that exclusive interview with the ceo coming up later in the program. let's get the first word headlines. are going to start with the imf. calling on the japanese government to work closely with the bank of japan. this as it cut its 20 growth forecast for the necessary time 2019 growth forecast for the third time. fiscal spending for growth and inflation. if is urging more ambitious structural reforms. appropriatee it is for bank of japan to have a target. proven to beat has helpful. and while not yet achieved, the direction is of inflation has been upwards. and most importantly. deflation as now the story of the past. on travel toan taiwan has led to a short to klein in visitor arrivals in the past two months. the number of mainlanders traveling to the islanders plunged 52% year-over-year in october. and that follows --

singapore will have facial and iris scans by 2025 — border security improvements were announced yesterday. but its main picture is of a man trying to extinguish a burning christmas tree in a singapore—owned mall in hong kong, which was damaged by protesters. and the philippine star leads with political divides in the house of representatives, saying president duterte is keeping out of issues involving the house speaker. but its main picture is of a new outreach programme in caloocan city, showing children gathering at a mobile library. that is it for some of the papers. let's get more on events in washington now. professor cass sunstein is a legal expert and author of impeachment: a citizen's guide. i asked him what he made of today's impeachment hearings. it's been dignified in general, it's been consistent with our constitutional system, it's obeyed the rules, there's been an effort to find out what the facts are. of course, there's been a partisan element, which is not what we would like to see for something of this degree of gravity, but it is living up to the ideals in general of our constitutional system. how big a problem is the partisan nature of things, especially at the beginning like this? serious. the whole idea of impeachment was supposed to be that we're looking not at whether we think the president is a good person or not or whether even we agree with his policies, but whether he's committed a high crime or misdemeanour and that's not supposed to be a partisan matter. but to have it right at the initial stages be inflamed in this way is not surprising and right now, not devastating, expected. there were some jokes made today about who could be called as a potential witness and what have you. how much power does the committee have to call witnesses, to see evidence in a way that perhaps the wider public wouldn't be able to see? well, they can call any witnesses they want when it's related to the legitimate purposes of an impeachment enquiry. so, if they called you or if they called someone who had no connection with what they're investigating, that wouldn't be a legitimate purpose and if they called people who are claiming to have had conversations with the president personally, those people might be able to resist on the grounds that there's executive privilege. also, there is a difference between a mere call, meaning please come, and a subpoena. a please come, as in a dinner invitation, can be responded to with "no, thank you." but the subpoena is a legal instrument and you need a good reason to say no to that one. we talked on this programme about the whole process of impeachment. you've written a book about it so you know better than anyone. how likely is it that all of this is going to end up in the process, in the senate, with impeachment? i mean, a lot of people are saying today, "what's the point?" well, the likelihood of impeachment right now, meaning that the president will be effectively indicted by the house of representatives, is over 50%. that is, the democrats control the house and the grounds for impeachment in their apparent preliminary review are real. it's profoundly to be hoped that they're keeping an open mind and they'll listen to counter—arguments as it's profoundly to be hoped that the republicans will have an open mind and sometimes hopes are realised even if the probability is not that everyone is going to be playing it straight. if it goes to the senate, which right now looks likely, the likelihood that the senate will convict — that's the legal term — donald trump, is over 50%, well over 50%, because the republicans control the senate, but probabilities tend to shift rapidly, so it's probably a mistake to be too confident about what tomorrow will bring. presidential elections are being held in sri lanka on saturday with the highest ever number of candidates taking part. it's expected to be a tight race between the two frontrunners — gota baya rajapa ksa, a controversial former defence chief, who's seen as the favourite to win, and sajith premadasa from the current ruling party. from sri lanka, here's the bbc‘s yogita limaye. under the tropical sun, they waited for hours at a rural bus station, finding any place they could to see their leader. gota baya raja pa ksa, a wartime defence chief with a deadly reputation. he has now emerged from the shadow of his brother, the former president, mahinda. the rajapaksas are credited with ending sri lanka's civil war, and in a nation where people have suffered deadly attacks this year, they promise security. "from this point on, our country will never again experience such acts of terrorism," he says. translation: to save the country from where it's fallen to, we need a leader like gotabaya. he announced he was running for president soon after these bombings on easter sunday. what happened inside this church in many ways changed the course of the election. the idea that peaceful families sitting together in mass could be brutally killed shook this nation and brought national security into the centre stage. in an environment of fear, an opportunity for a leader like gota baya rajapa ksa, who's seen as a strong man. but there is a part of sri lanka where his name evokes fear. when he was defence secretary, a fierce military crackdown ended the civil war waged by tamil rebels in the north. gota baya raja pa ksa is accused of human rights abuses and ordering the rounding up of thousands of tamils, many of whom never returned home. theirfamilies hold daily vigils. ratnasingham says his son was abducted as he was leaving his university. translation: i know for sure this abduction was done by gotabaya. i don't think my son will come back. but we want to expose the atrocities of gotabaya to the world and that is why i come here. gotabaya rajapaksa has always denied he was behind the disappearance of their loved ones. his main rival is sajith premadasa, the candidate from the ruling party. their biggest challenge is appeasing people who believe the government failed to protect them. a lovely campaign has boosted mr premadasa's chances. an unlikely contender at first, he's made this a 2—man race. it's expected to be a close one. yogita limaye, bbc news, in sri lanka. the first television pictures have been broadcast showing the extent of the damage inside notre—dame cathedral in paris after the devastating fire in april. lucy williamson reports. behind its familiar towers, the shape of notre—dame has changed, its soaring spire now a gaping hole, lead melting into new sculptures on its grizzled face. walking into notre—dame was always humbling. philippe villeneuve is one of very few to have seen how the cathedral looks today. it's silent, floodlit by sunlight, the charred remains of the collapsing spire still piled on the floor. translation: the wood continued to burn on the ground, and burned the bases of these two columns. if they weren't reinforced like this to stop them shattering, they could have collapsed and taken the walls and vault with them. it would have been a catastrophe. firefighters say they came close to losing notre—dame that night, but the reconstruction could risk its survival again. architects here say there is still a major risk of the vaults collapsing because of the effect of intense heat and water on the stones. teams are working to stabilise the structure over the next few months so reconstruction can begin. it took an evening to burn through this building. it'll take much more than a single night to really save it. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. you have been watching newsday. i'm maryam moshiri in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore hill. we love animals on the programme. therapy dogs have brought smiles to the faces of strained staffers on the first day of the public impeachment hearings. i tell you what, we need a few of these here in the uk with the brexit shenanigans going on. absolutely adorable. hello. wednesday started decently enough across the south—west of england and south wales and then came a mix of rain or snow, just depending on elevation. to keep decent weather, you had to be a good dealfurther away towards the east and it was a drier and finer day than we've seen of late, but there was no escaping the fact the system that has brought that combination of wet and at times wintry fair into that south—western quarter is going to be a player more widely across the southern half of britain during the course of thursday. really quite wet for the commute across the southern counties of england. come the afternoon, we'lljust pushing the eastern portion of the front with some significant rainfall up toward

singapore teenager who's also aiming for formula one glory and the video game that's looking to build bridges — not blow them up. we get an exclusive preview of ‘death stranding'. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am in singaporek in london and 6.30am in the indian capital delhi where millions of people have been told to stay indoors — for a fifth day — after air pollution reached dangerous levels. the toxic smog has been caused by a combination of burning crops, industrial emissions, and car fumes. hundreds of flights have also been diverted or delayed — as pratiksha ghildial reports from delhi. delhi is choking. people here are breathing the city's most toxic air in years, with pollution levels more than 20 times their safe limit. the problem returns here every winter, but many are saying that this is the worst they have experienced. protesters gathered outside the prime minister's house demanding a basic right — clean air. they believe there isn't the political will to find a solution. you can obviously see how terrible it is, and it's actually scary. you can't see things in front of you. patients are coming with more lung respiratory diseases, more affected by asthma. one major source of the solution is st

singapore. ravi menon, thank you so much for your time today. ravi: thank you, haslinda. haslinda: when it comes to singapore's innovation efforts, one of the key areas is fintech and the monetary authority of singaporele in that. in fact, some of the initiatives

singapore needs business globally as well as regionally. it will probably reduce but i think singapore would become even more outgoing in terms of engaging partners in asia to bring the flows to singaporeemily: i wanted to ask you in terms of the digital banking space, do you think it is a fair platform affair playing field, if you will, in terms of the traditional players like yourself, like abs, and the new disruptors? >> a new digital bank will allow you to trial new things. we would like to review it. we are talking to different parties. we have not yet made a final decision as to where we will do or not go. it is attractive to us because it is a way that we can actually test out in this new digital economy as to what we could do. what we could do means that how do we engage customers? what are the new channels we can use? we don't have to have the conditional cost space. so it is something we are interested in. >>>> how much are you looking at investment in tech? analysts are saying they are big banks and the traditional banks could be left behind if they do not move ahead of the curve before the new players coming to the market in 2021. >> for digital banks, the investment is not

singapore will remove all tariffs on products that are entering the country while the e.u. will remove tariffs on 84 percent of all singapore products that are entering the e.u. within the 1st year and how the the additional 16 percent will be removed over a 3 to 5 year period singapore is the e.u.'s largest trading partner in asia southeast region with a total of bilateral trade of over $58000000.00 in goods and just over $56000000.00 worth of trade in services and the agreement includes sections on renewable energy investments e-commerce and even intellectual property theft president of the european commission.

singapore will remove all tariffs on the products that are entering the country while the e.u. will remove tariffs on 84 percent of all singapore products that are entering the e.u. within the 1st year and how the the additional 16 percent will be removed over a 3 to 5 year period singapore is the largest trading partner in asia southeast region with a total of bilateral trade of over $58000000.00 in goods and just over $56000000.00 worth of trade in services and the agreement includes sections on renewable energy investments e-commerce and even intellectual property theft president of the european commission john carr junkers. this is the european union's 1st bilateral trade agreement with a south east asian country a building block towards a closer relationship between europe and one of the most dynamic regions in the world while european commissioner for trade cecilia mon strong said our trade agreement was seen.

singapore will remove all tariffs on the products that are entering the country while the e.u. will remove tariffs on 84 percent of all singapore products that are entering the e.u. within the 1st year and how the the additional 16 percent will be removed over a 3 to 5 year period singapore is the e.u.'s largest trading partner.