President Tran Dai Quang (C) witnesses the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Brunei Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade (Photo: VNA) This year, Vietnam and Brunei will celebrate the25th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade,Brunei is a small import market of Vietnam. Bilateral trade reached 97.7million USD in 2016, a year-on-year rise of 32.6 percent. Vietnam mainlyexported seafood and rice to Brunei.
The two countries have stepped up high-leveldelegation exchanges in recent years to increase mutual understanding.
For instance, President Tran Dai Quang paid aState-level visit to Brunei from August 26-28 in 2016, at the invitation ofKing Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah.
More recently, Minister for Foreign Affairs andTrade Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng paid an official visit to Vietnam to attend thefirst session of the Vietnam – Brunei commission on bilateral cooperation.
Vietnam and Brunei have multiple cooperationmechanisms and have signed numerous trade agreements, including the DoubleTaxation Avoidance Agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sportsand youth collaboration and the MoU on oil and gas cooperation.
These documents create a legal foundation forthe two countries to enhance bilateral cooperation.
Vietnamese leaders lauded Brunei’s investment ininfrastructure development and engagement in public-private-partnership projectsin energy, services, tourism, agriculture and food processing in Vietnam.
Vietnam hopes Brunei will create the bestconditions for member companies of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group tojoin oil and gas mining and supply in Brunei.
Additionally, Vietnam is willing to shareexperience in agriculture and seafood.
To achieve the bilateral trade target of 500million USD by 2025, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Haisuggested the two countries host activities to promote trade and investment,while enhancing all-level delegation exchanges to implement the MoU on tradeand industry cooperation.
He hoped Brunei will assist Vietnam indeveloping human resources training and improve product management capacity.
Domestic businesses should prepare for thebuilding of technical requirements such as product origin, quality andcertification, as well as build effective marketing strategies to boost exportsto Brunei.
Minister Lim Jock Seng called on Vietnam andBrunei to strengthen intra-ASEAN trade cooperation and make use of potentialfrom big markets in the association to reduce dependence on extra-blocpartners.
He affirmed that Brunei will support Vietnam’shosting the APEC Summit in 2017 and agreed to organise the second meeting ofthe Vietnam-Brunei commission on bilateral cooperation in Brunei in 2019.
At a business forum held by the Vietnam Chamberof Trade and Industry and its Brunei counterpart, President Tran Dai Quang saidthe Vietnamese and Bruneian business community should lift bilateralcooperation to a new height.
The President encouraged Brunei’s enterprises toinvest in Vietnam, adding that favourable conditions will be created forBruneian companies to cooperate with Vietnamese partners in energy, oil andgas, finance, real estate, tourism and infrastructure.
He also pledged that Vietnamese agencies fromcentral to local levels will support foreign firms, including those fromBrunei, to do long-term business.-VNA
VNA
