hamid | 02/09/2013 | Reply

SINGAPORE: The Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (GSFTA) came into effect on Sunday, 1 September.

新加坡：海湾阿拉伯国家合作委员会-新加坡自由贸易协定(GSFTA)于9月1日星期日生效。

The agreement will further enhance Singapore’s growing economic relations and trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), says Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

新加坡贸易与工业部（MTI）表示，该协议将进一步加强新加坡与海湾阿拉伯国家合作委员会（GCC）的经济贸易合作关系。

The GCC consists of six countries in the Middle East – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

GCC由中东的六个国家组成 - 巴林，科威特，阿曼，卡塔尔，沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国。

The GSFTA is a comprehensiveFree Trade Agreement (FTA) covering trade in goods, trade in services, investments, rules of origin, customs procedures, government procurement, electronic commerce and economic cooperation.

GSFTA是一项涵盖货物贸易，服务贸易，投资，原产地规则，海关程序，政府采购，电子商务和经济合作的综合自由贸易协定（FTA）。

MTI says Singapore is the first non-Middle East country to have an FTA with the GCC.

MTI说，新加坡是第一个与中东国家与GCC达成自由贸易协定的非中东国家

The FTA is Singapore’s second with the Middle East, after the Singapore-Jordan FTA in 2004.

自2004年的新加坡与约旦签订自由贸易协定之后，这是新加坡在中东国家签订的的第二个自由贸易协定。

For the first time, the GCC countries have committed to recognise the Singapore MUIS Halal Standards (SMHS) as similar to and consistent with their domestic Halal Standards.

这是首次GCC国家承诺承认新加坡MUIS-Halal标准（SMHS）与其国内Halal标准相似和一致。

Four out of the six GCC countries have already committed to recognise SMHS and the remaining two (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) will start negotiations shortly to do the same.

六个GCC国家中有四个已经承诺认可SMHS，其余两个（巴林和沙特阿拉伯）将很快对此进行商谈和协调。

This will open up more opportunities in Singapore’s export of Halal products to the GCC states.

这将为新加坡向GCC各国出口Halal产品开辟更多的机会。

MTI adds that based on Singapore’s latest bilateral trade figures in 2012, S$3.98 billion worth of Singapore goods will qualify for immediate tariff-free treatment, while S$49.1 million worth of Singapore goods will qualify after 2018.

MTI补充说，根据2012年新加坡最新双边贸易数据，新加坡商品的价值39.8亿新加坡货物将符合免关税待遇，而价值4,910万新元的新加坡商品将在2018年后符合资格。

Major sectors that will benefit from the elimination of tariffs are telecommunications, electrical and electronic equipment, petrochemicals, jewellery, machinery and iron and steel-related industries.

将从消除关税中获益的主要行业为电信，电气和电子设备，石油化工，珠宝，机械和钢铁相关工业。

Singapore will grant zero-tariff treatment to all GCC imports with immediate effect.

新加坡将对所有GCC成员国进口实行零关税待遇。