The cross-border social dialogue dimension of the Singapore-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (FTA), in force since 1 January 2021, relates to the FTA’s Chapter 12 on “Trade and Sustainable Development”, which establishes a “Stakeholders Forum”. The Agreement also envisages that meetings of the Board on Trade and Sustainable Development (composed of senior government officials from the two Parties) shall include a public session with a view to allowing stakeholders to exchange views on issues related to the implementation of Chapter 12.
The Stakeholders Forum, should promote a balanced representation of relevant interests, including organizations of employers and workers, as well as of organizations dealing with environmental issues and other relevant stakeholders. In practice, members to the Stakeholders Forum are those that are part of the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) in the two countries. DAGs are to be established in the two countries with a view to triggering country level consultations on the implementation of Chapter 12, based on a “balanced representation of independent economic, social and environmental stakeholders, including employers' and workers' organisations and environmental groups.”
More broadly, Chapter 12 commits the two Parties to “recognise the value of international cooperation and agreements on employment and labour affairs as a response of the international community to economic, employment and social challenges and opportunities resulting from globalisation”. They also commit “to respecting, promoting and effectively implementing the principles concerning the fundamental rights at work”, “to effectively implementing the ILO Conventions that Singapore and the United Kingdom have ratified respectively” and to “make continued and sustained efforts towards ratifying and effectively implementing the fundamental ILO conventions, and they will exchange information in this regard.”