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Asean
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Asean women were key negotiators for CPTPP, RCEP. Are they better than men at talking trade?

  • Veteran diplomat Tommy Koh singled out Singapore’s women trade negotiators for praise following the signing of the RCEP deal
  • Female trade experts from the region, however, suggest that although they bring certain skills to the table, their success has nothing to do with gender

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Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing alongside Sulaimah Mahmood, the city state’s chief negotiator in the RCEP trade talks. Photo: Facebook
Kok Xinghui
After Singapore and 14 other nations signed the world’s largest free-trade agreement earlier this month, veteran diplomat Tommy Koh paid tribute to Singapore’s female trade negotiators. Sharing a photo of Sulaimah Mahmood, Singapore’s chief negotiator for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Koh pointed out on Facebook that some of the city state’s best trade negotiators were women.
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Koh was part of the team that negotiated the historic free-trade agreement between the United States and Singapore, which came into effect in 2004 and was the first such pact between the US and an Asian government. He highlighted two other female trade negotiators besides Sulaimah.
Ng Bee Kim was Singapore’s chief negotiator for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a deal signed two years ago between 11 countries, including several from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). It was regarded as more comprehensive than the RCEP as it encompasses issues such as labour rights and environmental protections. It was initially designed by the US but Donald Trump withdrew in 2017.

Koh also mentioned Mary Elizabeth Chelliah, who led negotiations for the Peru-Singapore deal, which reduced tariffs for more than 87 per cent of Singapore’s exports to Peru.

Women have been able to emerge as Singapore’s top negotiators, Koh said, because “the Singapore civil service doesn’t discriminate against women”.

Deborah Elms, founder and executive director of the Asian Trade Centre, said several teams negotiating the RCEP – which includes all Asean countries, China, Japan and South Korea – and the CPTPP were led by women.

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“Women could have been half of the overall numbers of officials involved,” said Elms, whose organisation works with governments and businesses across Asia-Pacific on trade policy and also carries out research on the CPTPP and RCEP deals.

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