On 30 March 2022, the US Department of Commerce, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Singapore's Ministry of Communications and Information announced three new areas of cooperation, including the alignment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) frameworks and toolkits, and collaboration on cybersecurity in Southeast Asia. 

This is on the back of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Partnership for Growth and Innovation (PGI), which was signed by Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in October 2021. The PGI is aimed at achieving inclusive growth for the economies of the U.S. and Singapore, and their respective regions, by strengthening collaborations in new and forward-looking areas.

Under the PGI, both sides will be advancing cooperation in: (a) digital economy and smart cities; (b) energy and environmental technologies; (c) advanced manufacturing and supply chain resilience; and (d) healthcare. 

Amongst other things, planning is underway to boost the regional development of digital trade standards; expand participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) System to facilitate global interoperability between different data privacy regimes; and support the growing need for U.S. and Singapore companies to operationalize trustworthy and responsible uses of AI applications. 

Both countries also plan to collaborate on cybersecurity best practices, including on regional capacity building programmes on smart cities through the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence.

How this might impact your business: The PGI is a strong signal by both the US and Singapore of their alignment on digital trade and innovation policy matters, as well as of a desire to strengthen mutual collaboration in these areas. Businesses operating across both geographies can expect to benefit from common frameworks on AI governance, cross border data transfers and cybersecurity.