DEPUTY SECRETARY OF COMMERCE SAMPSON CALLS ON PRIME

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001430

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE PASS USTR FOR AUSTR BWEISEL, EBRYAN, AND
JMCHALE
COMMERCE FOR JBAKER

E.O. 12356: N/A
TAGS: ETRD ECON EINV ETTC ECPS EPET EAGR KIPR SN

SUBJECT: DEPUTY SECRETARY OF COMMERCE SAMPSON CALLS ON PRIME
MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG AND MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
LIM HNG KIANG



1. (SBU) Summary: Dr. David A. Sampson, Deputy Secretary of
Commerce, met with LEE Hsien Loong, Prime Minister, and LIM
Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry, during a one-day
visit to Singapore on April 26, 2006. During the two
meetings, the Deputy Secretary focused on the importance of
U.S. engagement in ASEAN, the current situation in
Indonesia, the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the
current state of the WTO negotiations, and the U.S.-China
relationship. In addition, Deputy Secretary Sampson held a
roundtable discussion with American Chamber of Commerce
(AmCham) members, met with International Enterprise (IE)
Singapore (Commercial Service Singapore's key strategic
partner in the Government of Singapore),visited the
LucasFilm Animation facility, and had a CNBC Asia interview.
End summary.


2. (SBU) Dr. David A. Sampson, Deputy Secretary of
Commerce, held separate meetings with LEE Hsien Loong, Prime
Minister, and LIM Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and
Industry, on April 26, 2006. The Prime Minister and
Minister Lim both emphasized the importance of the ASEAN
economies as well as the importance of their continuing to
liberalize their economies and encourage free trade and
foreign direct investment. In this regard, the Prime
Minister noted Vietnam's movement toward a more open
economy. The United States had set the gold standard with
its Free Trade Agreements, particularly the U.S.-Singapore
FTA, and Singapore was counting on the United States to
maintain the high standard in its FTA negotiations with
Malaysia. The Prime Minister and Minister Lim both
highlighted the importance of the U.S. presence in ASEAN and
urged the United States to increase its commercial presence
here and trade with region. The Deputy Secretary agreed and
reiterated that a key U.S. priority was strong IP regimes
throughout the region.


3. (SBU) The Prime Minister was optimistic that the new
government in Indonesia was moving in the right direction.
The President of Indonesia recognized the problems,
including terrorism and the need to create jobs, and was
making good moves to get the economy back on track. The
Prime Minister felt that the decision to cut fuel subsidies
was good because it freed up money to go into other areas
such as power generation. However, steadily rising wages,
strong unions, and the imposition of "special levies" was
discouraging foreign investment that was needed to create
the millions of new jobs needed yearly. The two countries
would likely sign an agreement on establishing Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) in Batam and Bintan, Indonesia later
this year


4. (SBU) The Prime Minister and Minister Lim believed the
implementation of the U.S.-Singapore FTA was going well.
The Deputy Secretary agreed and expressed great satisfaction
on the strong IP protection regime in Singapore to which the
PM responded: "we enforce it." The Prime Minister said that
Singapore's greatest concern was U.S. protectionist
sentiment, particularly in the wake of the Dubai Ports deal
where support behind the President's desire to keep the deal
on track was very limited. The Deputy Secretary responded
that, although we had concerns about Dubai (e.g., export
controls),we hoped this was a unique situation. He added
that the Administration was committed to bring back a
rational discussion of this subject.


5. (SBU) The Prime Minister and Minister Lim said that we
needed to keep the WTO negotiations moving forward. They
believed that, in order to push the WTO deal through, the
U.S. had to keep its markets open. They further noted that
while a breakthrough was not needed, there must be reason
for some optimism that there will be a successful conclusion
down the road. Citing Vietnam and India, the Prime Minister
stated that countries in the region were opening up and that
progress on the WTO front was necessary to continue this
trend.


6. (U) Both Minister Lim and the Prime Minister stressed
the critical importance of the U.S.-China relationship and
felt the recent trip of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the
United States had gone well. Minister Lim emphasized the
importance of engaging China at the provincial level,
particularly the middle and western provinces.


7. (U) In both meetings, Dr. Sampson thanked the Singaporean

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leaders for their strong support in the areas of counter-
terrorism and narcotics interdiction.


8. (SBU) In private sector meetings with U.S. and Singapore
business leaders, Dr. Sampson discussed a broad range of
commercial and trade issues impacting the Asia Pacific
region. AmCham members were very appreciative of Dr.
Sampson's trip to the region. I.E. Singapore relayed the
frustrations expressed by Singaporean companies over the
long process required to obtain approvals from the FDA to
sell their products in the United States.

Herbold