There has been strong development of economic, trade and investment cooperation between Brunei Darussalam and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and there is a lot of potential to develop this even further.

Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade, Tran Tuan Anh, highlighted this while delivering a presentation at yesterday's Brunei Darussalam-Vietnam Business Forum.

He began his presentation by saying he was very pleased to see the strong development of economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. He added that there remains a lot of potential to be better exploited in the future.

He shared some statistics from Vietnam Customs, which show that bilateral trade from 2010 to 2015 has tripled from US$24 million in 2010 to more than US$74 million in 2015.

"These are encouraging but are yet to reflect the full potential between Vietnam and Brunei," he said. "Vietnam's exports are mainly rice and seafood, while in stark contrast, Brunei's two main commodities exported to Vietnam are crude oil and chemicals."

He also shared that, in investment, by 2016 Brunei had 205 projects with a total registered capital of $2.2billion. He said that Brunei ranks 18th out of 116 countries investing in Vietnam. "Brunei has invested in 10/21 sub-sectors of Vietnam, in manufacturing and processing, real estate, construction, wholesale and retail. Vietnam has only one project in Brunei in the service sector with limited investment."

The minister described yesterday's forum as being "of great significance", saying that it was taking place at a time "when our business communities are offered tremendous opportunities for market expansion, thanks to a more efficient operation of the government and deeper integration such as the Asean Economic Community (AEC) and the TPP."

He said that to take advantage of these opportunities and to further promote cooperation in trade and investment between Brunei and Vietnam, a number of things need to be implemented.

For the two governments, he said, "Our relevant authorities should continue to lift and restrict trade barriers on administrative procedures, customs, standards, food safety and quarantine to further facilitate the free movement of goods between Vietnam and Brunei, especially for agricultural products, seafood and Halal food."

He also said that Vietnam encourages Brunei to invest in Vietnam in the areas where both parties will benefit most from the AEC, RCEP and TPP such as the oil and gas, textile and chemical industries.

"Both governments should create favourable conditions for trade and transport in custom areas, particularly in areas close to seaports and airports," he said. "Both countries should encourage cooperation between the government and private sector in infrastructure development through public-private partnership (PPP)."

Adding on, he said, 'The two sides should strengthen experience sharing, cooperation in brand building and technology transfer in the areas of our strength, especially in exploration and exploitation of oil and gas, agricultural and fishery production and Halal food."

He then went on to touch on businesses of the two countries, saying, "The two sides need to cooperate in the development of regional value chains in areas of our strengths such as oil and gas, agriculture, fisheries, textiles, footwear, supporting industries and logistics to make a common development of the value chain instead of competing with each other."

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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