Trade & Investment

As the country’s economy has liberalised and grown in recent decades, its trade volumes to developed markets and emerging ones have risen strongly. The country has established a name for itself as a leading exporter both of manufactured goods and traditional products such as tea and spices. A free trade agreement with India signed in 2000 has proved a major boon and is now being followed by a raft of other deals that should both boost export potential and open markets to foreign producers and investors.

This chapter contains interviews with Ban Ki-moon, Former Secretary-General, UN; Malik Samarawickrama, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade; Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade); Upul Jayasuriya, Chairman, Board of Investment; and Peter Wong, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive, HSBC.