His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam receives in audience Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr R M Marty M Natalegawa (L) during his first official visit to the Sultanate.

Bandar Seri Begawan - Indonesia wants to expand its relations with Brunei Darussalam in the areas of food security, agriculture and environment protection.

This was stated by the visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa in an exclusive interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

Marty, who was appointed to take the Indonesia foreign affairs ministerial post last October, arrived on a first official visit to the Sultanate on Sunday.

During his two-day introductory visit, Marty met with Brunei's top officials and made a courtesy call to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.

He said that in the effort to strengthen ties with Brunei, Indonesia offered to broaden the scope of cooperation beyond existing cooperation in the areas of oil, energy, and household products.

"So we need to diversify basically the composition of our trade interaction.For example I realised that the food security is an area of interest for both countries," Marty said.

"Indonesia is opening itself to the potential investment in the agriculture sector. So, this is the kind of area where we can look at."

To do so, he added, both nations have established infrastructures to channel such cooperation. He mentioned that both nations have already had the mechanism of bilateral commission including the number of MoUs signed by both countries, and the establishment of Brunei-Indonesia Friendship Association.

"So what we need to do is to ensure that they are activated, they are utilised, and we identify new opportunities," he said.

The former Indonesia 's United Nations Ambassador also emphasised the need for cooperation among Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia on the issue of climate change, especially in the initiative of Heart of Borneo. "It's a blue-ribbon project to tell the world that the three countries, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia share the responsibility to protect and preserve our forests."

Brunei and Indonesia established their diplomatic relations in 1984. Since then, they have developed bilateral cooperation in several areas including communications, broadcasting, technical cooperation as well as religious affairs.

During audience with His Majesty, Marty said that His Majesty expressed the best wishes to Indonesia, reiterated the close affinity that Indonesia and Brunei enjoy and congratulated President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Indonesia has conducted peaceful elections recently.

Marty said that Brunei is a reliable friend and reliable neighbour for its participation in the Aceh Monitoring Mission, which is the key instrument that help end the-more-than three decades conflict in Aceh. He also thanked Brunei for its support in last year's Bali Democracy Forum, that bring together countries in Asia to exchange views about democracy. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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