Speech by Mr George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs for The Signing Ceremony of The Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement between Singapore and Brunei

Your Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah

Your Excellency High Commissioner Pengiran Dato Yusuf Kula

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am delighted to welcome Your Royal Highness and our distinguished guests from Brunei to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are honoured to have all of you with us today for the signing of the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement between Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.

Your Royal Highness is no stranger to this Ministry. We fondly recall Your Royal Highness' last visit to MFA in 1999 when we were still in Raffles City. Your Royal Highness' sons, Their Royal Highnesses Prince Qawi and Prince Fattaah, also visited the Foreign Ministry in 2001 and 2004 respectively. Our two Foreign Ministries enjoy a very close working relationship.

The strong ties between Brunei and Singapore go back to the days before our independence. As two small countries, we share many common views and interests. We have regular exchanges, both official and non-official. These include the Singapore-Brunei Exchange Visits (SBEV), which has allowed our ministers, senior officials and businessmen to interact in an informal setting since 1990. Ties between our militaries are excellent. More than 6,000 SAF soldiers train in Brunei every year. In 2005, the SAF was pleased to invite close to 400 Bruneians to take part in around 70 different military training courses in Singapore. Our Second Echelon Civil Service Exchange Programme, in place since 2002, has become another useful avenue for our senior officials to get to know one another.

Our close relations redound to our mutual benefit. For example, our Currency Interchangeability Agreement, in place since 1967, will mark its 40th anniversary in 2007. This policy of freely convertible currencies has been good for both our economies.

The agreement that we will sign today is part of this process of deepening our economic ties. The Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement or DTA, as it is commonly called, affords our businessmen many advantages. With the DTA, they need not worry about tax issues when they seek out investment opportunities in each other's country. The Agreement does this by making clear the taxing rights of Brunei and Singapore on all forms of income arising from cross-border activities. In doing so, it will eliminate double taxation, as each country will give recognition to the tax paid by its residents to the other country.

The DTA should pave the way for further bilateral trade and investment, and enhance the two-way flow of technology, talent and expertise. It is an important milestone in a relationship which will grow even stronger in the future.

Thank you.