Brunei, China Region Reinforce Business Ties
By Finaz Daniel

Bandar Seri Begawan - With intent focused on reinforcing the economic and commercial links and business exchanges between Brunei and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the over-100 member visiting Guangxi Zhuang delegation led by Guo Shengkun joined Brunei's Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) in the China GuangxiBrunei Darussalam Trade and Economic Cooperation Promotion Conference yesterday at the Rizqun International Hotel.

According to Brunei's external trade statistics, the total value of trade volume between Brunei and China in 2006 was B$487.5 million, or approximately US$350 million, which falls under the bar of the joint trade target of US$1 billion by the year 2010.

'We need to strengthen our determination to deepen and expand our cooperation further to achieve this target and more," said Acting Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Dato Paduka Hj Hamdillah Hj Abd Wahab.

'We have to triple our efforts, aggressively pursue more sales of oil and begin spot LNG, accelerate our investment drive in mutually beneficial areas like tourism, education, Brunei Halal, agrotech products, aquaculture and deep water fisheries and last but not least, PMB deep water port development and transhipment," he added. It was revealed by Guo , who is also the chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress (CPC) of Guangxi Zuang Autonomous Region, that more room and resources for development - of both sides will be made possible by the progress made in PanBeibu Gulf cooperation and the development of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone for further strengthening friendship and cooperation.

Guo also proposed several prospective areas of cooperation, particularly in agriculture, fisheries, logistics, tourism and halal food processing.

In the areas of fisheries and agribusiness, Dato Hamdillah offered opportunities to work together to develop deep-sea fishing for tuna and tuna-like species; in shrimp and fish culture production, eco-aqua park development, livestock production, biotechnology and high-technology crop production.

The Guangxi delegation leader also expressed his wish to strengthen agricultural cooperation in padi and vegetable farming, agricultural technical exchanges and agricultural investment and trade and further suggested to strengthen cooperation in fisheries by encouraging and supporting respective enterprises to cooperate in pelagic fishing, aquaculture, aquatic product processing, aquatic seedling cultivation, feed production and farming techniques.

In putting into effect the consensus reached at the China-Asean Port Development and Cooperation Forum, Guo expressed the wish to establish a coordinating mechanism for port cooperation, especially in the areas of container through transport, international transfer transportation, transportation route development, logistic despatching and passenger liner cultivation.

Guo also expressed an interest in halal food processing and said that, due to the superior quality of Brunei's marine products and with Guangxi's technical advantages in seafood processing, there was great potential for halal food made from marine product materials.

'We are pretty optimistic of our intended goals in the global halal market and industry and we are offering avenues whereby foreign firms can become our partners in this endeavour," said Dato Hamdillah, adding that Brunei's target is to capture minimum one per cent of the US$500 billion global halal market, by the year 2020.

Dato Hamdillah went further to make the sultanate more attractive and mentioned that the government had earmarked and developed several industrial sites, such as 263 hectares for the Agro Technology Park, 250 hectares for shrimp aquaculture and 40 hectares for the Eco-aqua Park in Tutong area, 200 hectares for offshore cage culture, tuna fishing in Zone 4 and thousands hectares of land for a high yielding rice ` plantation in Temburong.

Brunei will be participating in the upcoming 5th ChinaAsean Expo (CAEXPO) for the fifth consecutive time this year which will serve as a platform for business and investment cooperation development between Asean countries and the People's Republic of China, specifically the Guangxi region.

The Guangxi delegates will be taking a tour around Kampong Ayer and the Royal Regalia today as well as visit project sites under MIPR such as local fisheries sites, the Mentiri Shrimp Farm and the Sungai Bunga Fish Cage Culture site before departing for their final destination, the Philippines.

Also present at yesterday's conference were Guangxi Region's Vice Governor His Excellency Li Jin Zao and Her Excellency Madam Tong Xiaoling, China ambassador to Brunei.  -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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