SINGAPORE

Trade Pact With United States Signed: After signing a general agreement on trade talks with members of the Assn. of Southeast Asian nations, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will now begin to negotiate specific pacts designed to expand American economic ties with Singapore and the other nations in the group. U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which takes in services, intellectual property rights, dumping, countervailing duties and market access issues. Besides Singapore, ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.