Asia and Latin America should seek greater economic integration to build new markets, find new sources of growth and diversify their trade and investment links as the global economy remains volatile, Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam has said.

Tharman shared how Asia and Latin America remain relevant to each other at the International Enterprise Singapore’s (IE Singapore) Latin Asia Business (LAB) Forum 2013 which takes place in Singapore from September 30 to October 5.

He said both regions were increasingly important to each other’s economy, and face similar challenges including the need for investment and productivity growth.

Asia and Latin America enjoyed an annual rise of 22.8 percent in trade during 2003-2012, reaching 326 billion USD in 2012.

The two sides regions 22 free trade agreements over the last decade.

At the 10th LAB forum, IE Singapore CEO Teo Eng Cheong called on businesses from the Southeast Asian country to increase their investment in Latin America.

Trade between Singapore and Latin America saw an upward trend in the last decade, with an annual growth rate of 21.2 percent from 2003 to 2012.

In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade amounted to 21.5 billion USD, a 6.3 per cent growth over the same period last year.

From electronics manufacturing plants set up in the early 2000s, Singapore companies have started to invest in Latin America’s development in infrastructure, energy, transportation and logistics.-VNA