Singapore - Collaboration between Brunei and Singapore on broadcasting and TV production had deepened with the conclusion of the recent Brunei-Singapore Joint Info-Education TV Programme Production Business Matching held in Singapore.

The inaugural business matching session was January 28 at MediaCorp in Singapore.

The Brunei delegation was led by Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications Dato Paduka Haji Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Haji Awang Mohd Taha, and included AITI Chief Executive Haji Yahkup bin Haji Menudin and senior officials from the Prime Minister's Office, Radio Television Brunei (RTB) and AITI.

The local production houses that were selected to attend the business matching event were Masscom TV Production, Regalblue and Shazana's Production House. Meanwhile, three of Singapore's production houses - Mediareel Pte Ltd, Oak3 Films and Mediamorphosis Pte Ltd - participated in the business matching event.

The main objective of the business matching was for the production houses to find suitable partnership for the coproduction proposal submission for a joint info-education TV programme targetted to be submitted on March 4 this year.

This project is one of the activities identified under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore for Cooperation in Broadcasting/Media.

The MoU was signed in 2009 and shall remain valid until June 17, 2016. The scope of activities under this MoU include exchanging information and experience on broadcasting/media matters; seconding of staff; and collaborating on specific broadcasting/ media projects.

This project intends to not only strengthen the relationship and cooperation among both countries, but also to ensure that our production houses establishes counterparts in Singapore and eventually ventures out of the Brunei market.

This collaborative effort will improve and upgrade the quality of broadcast and media production in Brunei that will be on par with international standards.

The production houses were given the opportunity to meet the Singaporean production houses and to find out more on how the co-production can be done. The genre for the co-production is info-education with a theme "the tale of two rivers" targeting particularly the mass Malay audience.

The series of approximately five episodes will take a historic look at Brunei and Singapore rivers through the transformation of the current landscape and environment with highlights on conservation projects in both countries. The co-production is targetted to be aired in January 2014 that will be broadcasted through both respective national broadcasters.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin