VZCZCXRO1694
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #1430/01 1230431
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030431Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9753
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

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 
 
SINGAPORE 00001430  002 OF 002 
 
 
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