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THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                (Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  November 16, 2000

                           JOINT STATEMENT BY
        PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON AND PRIME MINISTER GOH CHOK TONG
           ON A UNITED STATES-SINGAPORE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

     The United States of America (USA) and Singapore have agreed to

start negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

USA and Singapore are both firm supporters of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and are committed to APEC's Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment by 2010 for industrialized economies and 2020 for developing economies.

The USA and Singapore reaffirm their strong commitment to the multilateral trading system and the launch of a New Round in 2001.

The FTA will be modeled after the US-Jordan FTA.

We have directed Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky and Minister George Yeo to endeavor to conclude negotiations before the end of the year.

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