TINY Singapore is doggedly pursuing free trade agreements (FTAs) with several countries, acutely aware that open trade routes are vital to the island-state's economic prosperity.

Even mounting criticism from neighbouring countries that the city-state's planned FTAs could put at risk the cohesion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is not going to stop it forging FTAs with keen partners.

As Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong recently said "those who can run faster should run faster" and "should not be restrained by those who don't want to run at all."

Goh's strategy, economists said, highlights the island-state's overwhelming dependence on external trade, which accounted for more than 70 percent of its total demand last year.

"They (Singapore) have got to do it because ASEAN is going so slowly and AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) doesn't seem to be going forward quickly," said Daniel Gay, a Singapore-based senior economist at research firm Strategic Intelligence.

"It's more a case of ASEAN slowing down on free trade rather than Singapore speeding up," he said.

AFTA is a free trade zone covering the 10 member countries in ASEAN and aims to cut tariffs to between zero and five percent by 2003 for its more developed members and a later date for poorer economies.

Investors have expressed concerns ASEAN is dragging its feet in liberalising trade after Malaysia sought to delay the opening of its auto sector to full competition by two years to 2005.

During a ASEAN meeting in Singapore last year, the grouping approved a protocol which would allow other members to delay their commitment to cut tariffs in areas deemed vulnerable to foreign competition.

"It shows their reluctance to become more involved in the globalised economy," said Gay.

Minister of Trade and Industry George Yeo said securing FTAs with countries outside ASEAN would sow the seeds for future growth.

"The FTAs we are negotiating will create more opportunities for our economy and better secure our links to North America, Japan, Europe and Australasia," Yeo said.

"The immediate region has supported our growth in the past few decades. ASEAN's importance will remain, as this is our immediate neighborhood," he said.

"But the stimulus for future growth will have to come from a wider region and beyond. The world has become smaller," he added.

Outgoing US ambassador Steven Green said the proposed US-Singapore free trade pact would send a strong statement to the region on the benefits of free trade.

"The real purpose of this FTA is to make a statement to the region," Green told the Business Times.

"It sends a very strong, compelling message -- that you need to have the proper infrastructure in place to have the true benefits of free trade," he said.

Several countries in the region still have barriers to trade, he noted.

"There are a lot of obstacles to foreign investment, including everything from tariffs that are prohibitive to legal environments that don't make it conducive to do business, to undefined property rights -- a lot of things that need to be changed," Green said.

After sealing an FTA with New Zealand last year, the city-state's trade strategists have been busy crafting similar pacts with several other countries, also including Japan, Canada and Mexico.

It has already started the first round of FTA negotiations with Australia which could conclude this year, and will launch exploratory talks next month in Geneva with the European Free Trade Association, made up of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.