Trade between Singapore and the United States has climbed about 12 percent since the two countries sealed Washington's first Asian free-trade pact a year ago, the Singapore government said on Thursday. The pact gave nearly 80 percent of all imports from Singapore duty-free access to the US market, a figure that rises to 92 percent by 2008. In return, all US imports into Singapore have been duty free since the pact took effect in January last year.

US and Singapore officials said in a joint statement they expected a further expansion in trade after reviewing the pact on Wednesday. Singapore vowed to enforce new rules on copyright piracy and re-examine its laws on business competition.

The United States was Singapore's fourth-largest trading partner in 2004, with two-way trade of US $44 billion.

The 12 percent rise in trade with the United States compared with a rise in Singapore's total trade of 22 percent in Singapore-dollar terms and 27 percent in US-dollar terms between 2004 and 2003.

China was Singapore's biggest trading partner, followed by Malaysia and the European Union.

Singapore's trade with China grew nearly three-times as fast as that with the United States in 2004, reaching US $67 billion and putting China ahead of Malaysia as Singapore's top trade partner.

The US agreement made copyright infringement a criminal offence in Singapore but enforcement has been patchy. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation joined local police in at least one crackdown on music piracy syndicates in April last year.

Also outstanding is Singapore's agreement under the pact to sell its entire 67.5 percent stake in dominant telephone company Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and, in general, to more rigorously enforce competition laws.

Singapore's external trade in 2004 was S$580.4 billion, up from S$473.9 billion in 2003. Converted to US dollars, using the exchange rate in place at the end of 2004 and 2003, total trade rose to US $355.48 billion in 2004 from US $279.13 billion a year earlier.

Copyright Reuters, 2005