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JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY AUSTRALIA, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, CANADA, CHILE, MYANMAR, NEW ZEALAND AND SINGAPORE AFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO ENSURING SUPPLY CHAIN CONNECTIVITY AMIDST THE COVID-19 SITUATION

6 April 2020

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JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY AUSTRALIA, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, CANADA, CHILE, MYANMAR, NEW ZEALAND AND SINGAPORE AFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO ENSURING SUPPLY CHAIN CONNECTIVITY AMIDST THE COVID-19 SITUATION


Singapore, together with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Myanmar and New Zealand, issued a Joint Ministerial Statement (JMS) on 25 March 2020 underlining our joint commitment to maintaining open supply chains during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.


This JMS grew from a bilateral statement initiated by Singapore with New Zealand. On 20 March, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Chan Chun Sing, and New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Mr David Parker, announced that Singapore and New Zealand affirmed their  commitment to ensure that their supply chains remain open and connected amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile and Myanmar subsequently joined the JMS. The JMS is particularly important and timely because the COVID-19 pandemic has affected trade flows and connectivity. The JMS recognises our mutual interest in ensuring that trade lines remain open to facilitate the flow of goods and services. It also contains a commitment to refrain from export controls, tariffs and non-tariff barriers and remove any trade restricting measures on essential goods. The full text of the JMS is appended.


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“The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis. As part of our collective response to combat COVID-19, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, New Zealand and Singapore are committed to maintaining open and connected supply chains. We will also work closely to identify and address trade disruptions with ramifications on the flow of necessities.


We recognise that it is in our mutual interest to ensure that trade lines remain open, including via air and sea freight, to facilitate the flow of goods including essential supplies.


We affirm the importance of refraining from the imposition of export controls or tariffs and non-tariff barriers and of removing any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, at this time.


We are committed to working with all like-minded countries to ensure that trade continues to flow unimpeded, and that critical infrastructure such as our air and seaports remain open to support the viability and integrity of supply chains globally.”

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