Singapore
Singapore and German Passport ranked as most powerful
Singapore is tied, for the first time, with Germany as the country with the most powerful passport in the latest Global Passport Power Rank 2017
Singapore is tied, for the first time, with Germany as the country with the most powerful passport in the latest Global Passport Power Rank 2017 published by Arton Capital’s Passport index released on Tuesday, according to Straits Times Online report on Wednesday.
Holders of Singapore passport can now get visa-on-arrival in Ukraine for up to 15 days, upping the republic’s score by one to 159. Singapore was second before the change.Germany still has the edge for visa-free free travel. Germans can travel to 125 countries without a visa compared to Singapore’s 122.
But Singapore beats Germany with a visa-on-arrival score of 37 to 34.The Passport Index compares the passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories.
Singapore was fourth this year in the Visa Restrictions Index, another ranking travel freedom which uses a different way of calculating how powerful a passport is.Germany also tops this table published by Henley & Partners. It has visa-free access to 176 countries out of a possible 218.In both tables, Singapore is the highest-ranked Asian country.
Source: Singapore passport ties with German as most powerful passport – Thai PBS English News
Asean
The Indonesia-Singapore Bilateral Investment Treaty Comes into Effect
Through the upgraded DTAA, the tax rate on branch profits was reduced from 15 to 10 percent, and the tax rate on royalties for copyrighted works of literature, arts, and film, and eight percent for the use of industrial, scientific, or commercial equipment was lowered from 15 to 10 percent.
The latest Indonesia-Singapore Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) came into effect on March 9, 2021, and replaces the previous BIT, which was signed in June 2006 and expired in June 2016.
Singapore
UK exporters’ use of Singapore as ASEAN’s supply chain gateway boosted by new bilateral trade agreement
Singapore’s role as a hub for UK companies, whether as exporters or investors accessing Southeast Asia’s and broader Asian dynamic economies, was elevated by the new UK-Singapore trade agreement (UKSTA) which came into effect on 1st January 2021.
There was much controversy, before and after the United Kingdom’s (UK) Brexit from the European Union (EU), in talk of it adopting a free trade and manufacturing model similar to Singapore’s.
Singapore’s government issued several measures to accelerate the digital transformation and overseas expansion of local businesses.
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