US Secretary of the Treasury meets with PM Lee in Singapore

US Secretary of the Treasury meets with PM Lee in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met with United States Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew on Wednesday morning at the Istana. This is Secretary Lew's first visit to Singapore as US Treasury Secretary.

During the meeting, PM Lee and Secretary Lew exchanged views on international and regional developments, including the global economic and financial outlook, ASEAN's efforts to promote regional growth through greater economic integration, and the progress of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

The leaders also discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

Secretary Lew also met with Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

They discussed a broad range of issues such as the global economic outlook, IMF quota reforms, tax cooperation and the TPP negotiations.

DPM Tharman and Secretary Lew agreed that governance reforms of the IMF remained a priority to be completed with urgency, and noted that the ongoing negotiations between Singapore and the US to conclude a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Inter-Governmental Agreement are progressing smoothly.

On the TPP, both ministers reiterated their commitment to achieving a high-standard agreement that will facilitate more trade and investment, create jobs and promote economic development in the region.

Here is DPM's speech from the meeting on Wednesday:

Thank you for coming. Secretary Lew and I have had a good discussion, a very productive discussion. First, let me say that we're pleased that the US continues to build on its strategic engagement in Asia.

Secretary Lew's visit to Singapore testifies to America's continued active involvement in the region.

We covered several issues in our meeting. We discussed the US economic outlook, the global outlook and what's happening in Asia. We discussed some bilateral issues, in particular tax cooperation. We discussed the IMF governance reforms. And we discussed the TPP.

First, on the US. I had a useful discussion with Secretary Lew. The US economy is fortunately recovering at a steady pace.I was assured by Secretary Lew about the importance the US places on getting clear resolution of its current budget and debt impasses.

Resolving this problem is important not just to the United States, but for the global economy, for sustaining the global recovery.

We also agreed on the need for domestic reforms elsewhere in the world. Here in Asia, we do have a very important priority of preparing for the eventual normalisation of global interest rates. That means not just a defensive strategy, it means taking the opportunity to put in place reforms that encourage long-term investments, that raise productivity, and that raise the trajectory of sustainable growth in Asia.

We had a good discussion of the implementation of the 2010 governance reforms of the IMF. This remains a priority to be completed with urgency. And I was assured by Secretary Lew that the US Government is fully committed to doing is part its part in taking this through Congress as early as possible.

On tax, I am pleased that Singapore's bilateral discussions with the US to conclude the FATCA agreements are progressing smoothly. We expect to conclude the agreement over the next few months. Secretary Lew and I agreed that we should work towards reciprocity of information exchange under FATCA.

I would add that the signing of the FATCA Inter - Governmental agreement between the US and Singapore underscores Singapore's preparedness to engage in automatic exchange of information as long as it is undertaken on a level playing field basis with regard to allfinancial centres and is undertaken with countries that respect the rule of law with regard to confidentiality of information.

We discussed the TPP. We are both committed to achieving high-standard TPP agreement that will ultimately boost trade, boost investment and boost job creation in all our countries. Our negotiators are working intensively to resolve the outstanding issues. Secretary Lew and I had a good exchange on issues relating to financial services and investment. We intend to raise standards of investor protection for businesses and strengthen the financial services sector, and of course the eventual TPP package will have to provide anoverall balance of benefits for all participants. So we look forward to a mutually beneficial TPP agreement based on an overall assessment and balance of benefits. Singapore looks forward to hosting the next TPP Ministerial in December 2013.

Once again let me say we reaffirm our excellent bilateral ties between the US and Singapore. The US remains an important partner for us, and an important partner for Asean and the Asian region.

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