From Thursday, 75 percent of Singapore's exports will enter South Korea duty free. A further 14 percent will enjoy tariff-free access in South Korea over the next 10 years, the Singapore trade ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

In return, Singapore will remove remaining tariffs, allowing all South Korean exports here to enter duty free with immediate effect.

The Korea-Singapore Free Trade Agreement was signed in August 2005.

On Wednesday, Singapore signed a free trade pact with Panama, its first with a Latin American nation.

It has similar pacts with key trading partners such as the United States, Australia, Jordan, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

Singapore is currently negotiating similar agreements with countries such as Bahrain, Canada, Egypt, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

It is part of a free-trade pact being negotiated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc with China.