Bandar Seri Begawan - Asean and East Asian leaders, as well as heads of state, will be able to enjoy better facilities at Brunei International Airport's new terminal building in time for the second part of the Asean Summit 2013, which will be hosted by Brunei Darussalam.

According to the Minister of Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Haji Abdullah bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar, the meeter-greeter area will be ready by October 2013, a month before the second part of the Asean Summit 2013 takes place.

Brunei will be hosting two Asean Summit events next year, one in April and the other in November.

The Minister of Communications, who was speaking on the sidelines of a foundation laying ceremony for Brunei International Airport's modernisation project, expects facilities at the airport next April to be "strained". However, he is optimistic that things would improve once the main part of the new terminal building is completed in time for the next Asean Summit pilgrims in about a month's time, the Minister of Communications said that they would be "properly greeted" at the Berakas Indoor Stadium, where they will be dropped off, and not at the current meeter-greeter area of the arrival hall.

Also present at yesterday's ceremony were: Dato Paduka Awg Haji Ali bin Haji Apong, Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister's Office and Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB); Awang Abdul Mutalib bin Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Yusof Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications; as well as, senior officials of BEDB and the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA).

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin