The TDB was formed on 1 January 1983 to develop Singapore as an international trading hub and to promote Singaporean goods and services.

It explored opportunities in both traditional and non-traditional markets, and subsequently exported business systems and developed international offshore trading.

The re-branding coincided with an acknowledgment that Singapore had to move beyond its investment-led and electronics-dominated export base and to diversify her sources of growth.

One of the key thrusts in Singapore's new economic strategy was to help Singapore-based companies internationalize and grow in an increasingly global market.

It was one of many examples of Trade Promotion Agencies (TPOs) internationally facing change, and had adjusted their mission appropriately to suit the times.