Britain International Trade Secretary Liz Truss announced that Britain on Thursday signed a free trade deal with Singapore covering 17.6bn dollars.
“Today I signed a deal with Singapore covering 17.6bn [pounds sterling] of trade – the 2nd biggest agreement we’ve signed in #AsiaPacific,’’ Truss wrote on Twitter.
A photo showed Truss alongside Singapore’s trade minister Chan Chun Sing.
The agreement came as British and EU negotiators begin a final push to salvage chances of a post-Brexit trade deal.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held crunch Brexit talks in Brussels on Wednesday.
They had decided on Sunday as a deadline for a decision over their severely jammed trade talks.
In a statement sent to reporters minutes after Johnson was pictured leaving the EU Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, a senior Number 10 source said the pair had a “frank discussion” but significant obstacles in the negotiations remained.
“Very large gaps remain between the two sides and it is still unclear whether these can be bridged,’’ the source said.
