Singapore, a major transshipment hub in the illegal ivory trade, said Monday it will impose a ban on domestic trade in elephant ivory from September 2021, tightening the noose on the proliferation of such exchanges nearly two decades after a global ban on the practice was enacted.

The ban, announced by the National Parks Board, aims to halt the sale of elephant ivory and ivory products, and the public display of elephant ivory and ivory products for commercial purposes in Singapore.

The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which has banned the international trade in elephant ivory since 1990.