Push for open trade is a "shared-responsibility": PM Lee

SMU Vice President (Business Development and External Relations) Associate Professor Annie Koh said: “Singapore is actually a little port and 95 per cent of our traffic is trans-shipment. The more plugged in we are to alliances and agreements, it makes us very connected and attractive to the big markets... In fact, most of the businesses are actually going to look at total cost and total productivity. If you have great alliances, it brings down the barriers. I see all these alliances as a fantastic opportunity for our small and medium enterprises." She was commenting on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s address to the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) 21 Pacific Rim members at their opening retreat in Bali on Monday, urging APEC member economies to continue to support free trade or risk “significant negative consequences”.