SINGAPORE - Embracing globalisation is critical to Singapore's survival and pursuing free trade agreements or FTAs are key to the country's existence, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (July 6). Mr Ong, who said he is a former trade negotiator, was giving a ministerial statement in Parliament about the FTAs, which are trade pacts inked between two or more countries to ease the flow of goods and services. Singapore, Mr Ong said, is a country that is too small to live on its own, and which needs to tap into global markets to earn a living and be self-reliant. While it has no natural resources, Singapore does have its geographical location, which is its "one precious natural endowment", he added. He said: "It is a lasting advantage, but one which requires us to work very hard to realise and sustain. If we succeed, it helps compensate for our lack of size." The country's strategic spot has allowed it to capture trade flows through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore as well as connect many countries in the East and West. That, Mr Ong said, has enabled home-grown port operator PSA to become the largest container transhipment port in the world. Singapore's port now sustains ab...