Mündliche Erklärungen zur Abstimmung

  Ilhan Kyuchyuk (ALDE). – Mr President, I voted in favour on the conclusion of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). The agreement provides a strong impetus for greater engagement between the EU and Singapore and the south-east Asia region in general. It aims to remove nearly all custom duties, to get rid of overlapping bureaucracy, to improve trade for goods, white electronics, wool products and pharmaceuticals, and to encourage EU companies to invest more in Singapore and Singaporean companies to invest more in the EU.

The PCA supports people-to-people exchanges, including academic mobility under the Erasmus Mundus programme, and facilitates the further development of cultural exchange in order to increase mutual understanding and knowledge of our respective cultures. Last but not least, the conclusion of the PCA can be used by the EU to further encourage the Singapore authorities to take decisive steps to improve the human rights record in their country.