Their overall goal is to advance the cause of free trade in general and throw some momentum behind a proposal for a much larger free-trade agreement that would unite Singapore and the nine other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with New Zealand and Australia. The Singapore-New Zealand pact will keep up the pressure for the wider deal.
Negotiators say only some technicalities and the legal language remain to be finalized.
The two countries will immediately free trade in goods and reaffirm their openness on investment. Free trade in services would be phased in over 10 years and phased arrangements would be made for mutual recognition of professional qualifications and technical standards. Neither side, however, will benefit much from free trade in goods, since the volumes are small. Likely gains from services will mostly go to New Zealand, which as a small, remote economy with little bargaining power worries deeply about being left out in the cold. So we are keen to keep working with Asean.