On the morning of September 29, Ren Hongbin, Vice Minister of Commerce, and Dr Dayang Hajah May Fa’ezah, Bruneian Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, co-chaired the 5th Meeting of China-Brunei Economic and Trade Consultation via video. The two sides exchanged views on further deepening China-Brunei economic and trade relations and reached broad consensus.

Ren Hongbin stressed that during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Brunei in November 2018, the two heads of state decided to upgrade bilateral relations to strategic partnership, which pointed out the development direction of bilateral relations. Guided by the strategies confirmed by the two heads of state, the two countries have made substantial progress in the bilateral economic and trade relations and fruitful outcomes of the Belt and Road cooperation since the 4th meeting. Over the past five years, bilateral trade has expanded by about 2.5 times, and China’s investment in Brunei has increased by nearly 7 times. Hengyi (Brunei) PMB Petrochemical Project Phase I has been put into operation, and the construction of Guangxi-Brunei Economic Corridor went well, making important contributions to the diversified economic development and growth under the pandemic of Brunei.

Ren stressed that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of both diplomatic ties and dialogue relations between China and ASEAN. The two sides are standing at a new starting point of cooperation. China would like to take this opportunity to elevate the bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level by further enhancing strategic synergy and promoting anti-pandemic, quality BRI and bilateral trade and investment cooperation. China appreciates Brunei’s efforts in overcoming the difficulties under the pandemic and pushing forward East Asia and China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation as the rotating ASEAN presidency. China supports the central position of ASEAN and is willing to work with all the other members to enable RCEP’s entry into force and implementation as soon as possible. China also thanks Brunei for the help and support for China’s application to join the CPTPP. China stands ready to maintain communication and exchanges with Brunei and promote the BIMP-EAGA cooperation together for a balanced development of ASEAN regions.

Dr Dayang Hajah May Fa’ezah stated that over the 30 years since China and ASEAN established dialogue relations, the two sides made substantial progress in economic and trade relations. Brunei spoke highly of this. Brunei thanks China for its help in Brunei’s Covid response. Brunei is willing to work with China to deepen Belt and Road cooperation and promote construction of major projects such as Guangxi-Brunei Economic Corridor and Hengyi Petrochemical. Brunei hopes to strengthen fisheries and tourism cooperation between the two countries and welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in Brunei and promote cooperation in new areas such as digital economy and e-commerce, so as to diversify Brunei’s economy. Brunei would like to leverage its role of the rotating ASEAN presidency and work with member states to push for RCEP’s entry into force earlier. Brunei welcomes China’s application to join the CPTPP and is ready to enhance the BIMP-EAGA cooperation

In the meeting, the two sides announced the establishment of China-Brunei investment and economic cooperation working group.

(All information published on this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)