Brunei Darussalam

Royalty
- His Royal Highness Prince Haji 'Abdul 'Azim of Brunei (Malay: Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Duli Pengiran Muda Haji 'Abdul 'Azim; born 29 July 1982), internationally and professionally known as Prince Azim, is the second born prince of His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. He is the third in line to succeed the throne of Brunei. The most well known of the Brunei royal family, he is a paparazzi favourite.
- HRH Prince Abdul Mateen (Malay: Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Muda Abdul Mateen) (born 10 August 1991) is the tenth child of Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei and his former second wife, Mariam. Prince 'Abdul Mateen enjoys various sports. He played for the Bruneian football team AM Gunners and a week before his admission to the academy competed in the Yang Amat Mulia Pg Indera Mahkota Pg (Dr) Kamaluddin Al-Haj Badminton Championship Cup. He is also active in charitable works. In April 2016, Prince Mateen took part in the PADI Open Water Course, a recreational SCUBA certification which allows him to dive up to 18 metres deep. He became interested in diving after his adopted brothers Jabbah and Karim took the same course as part of their GCSE P.E credit. Prince Mateen also decided to use the same instructor as his brothers as he had heard great things about him. PADI IDC Staff Instructor, Carl Kershaw PADI#318241 was the man to take Prince Mateen and his friend Danial Isa-Kalebic through the course. This makes Mr Kershaw the only person in the world to teach the immediate Brunei Royal Family how to dive. Prince Mateen is very interested in pursuing diving and found it very easy to adapt to the water.


Government
- ministry of industry and primary resources www.bruneimipr.gov.bn

• Publishes directory of brunei darussalam products

- department of agriculture and agrifood
- brunei industrial development authority
- fisheries department
- forestry department
- brunei tourism board


Association/Institution
- http://asiaincforum.com/

Wawasan Brunei 2035 (Vision Brunei 2035) is a plan to reduce Brunei's dependence on oiland gas sectors, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, financial sector and tourism.


Uk
- fdi from brunei

• https://www.businessinsider.com/brunei-owned-hotels-delete-social-media-amid-gay-stoning-furore-2019-4 Numerous luxury hotels owned by the sultan of Brunei have abandoned social media after a furious backlash to Brunei's decision to make death by stoning the punishment for homosexuality. Eight hotels, including The Dorchester in London and The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, deleted social-media accounts on Wednesday, the same day a new law ordered by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah came into effect. The law makes homosexuality punishable by stoning to death. Celebrities including George Clooney and Ellen DeGeneres called for a boycott of nine hotels on March 28, when the law was widely reported in the media.

- bioinnovation center

• The Brunei government wants to place itself at the epicentre of the fast-growing halal products industry, which is currently estimated to be worth more than $1 trillion a year. The BioInnovation Corridor, being spearheaded by Brunei’s Halal Industry Innovation Centre, is to be created in three phases and will ultimately cover an area of 6 sq km. To promote the venture a delegation from Brunei recently visited Birmingham in a bid to highlight the opportunities on offer. The visit coincided with meetings with Midland universities and companies interested up operations in Brunei. Gary Ho, managing director of consultancy SQW China, which is advising the Brunei government on the project, said: “The BioInnovation Corridor is an industrial and technological park dedicated to halal products designed to diversify the Brunei economy. “We are looking for international collaborators, in terms of R&D, co-investment and technology transfer.” Mr Ho said SQW and the Brunei government were currently targeting businesses globally with a view of helping the BioInnovation Corridor to grow. He added: “We are talking to many countries including China, Hong Kong, the US, Australia and New Zealand, as well as countries in Latin America and Europe. “That is why we are here in the UK - in London and Birmingham. “I myself know the West Midlands quite well, we have a lot of projects here in Coventry, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. “Our company SQW is working with different science parks and we have working relationship with Warwick and Aston universities.” http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/business-news/bruneis-halal-industry-centre-targets-9021488

China
- leaders' visit

• Infrastructure, health and defense affairs are among highlights of the cooperative documents signed following the meeting on Wednesday between President Xi Jinping and Brunei's visiting Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah. During their meeting, Xi said the two countries should reinforce the exchange of governing experience, the synergy of their development strategies as well as pragmatic cooperation in various fields. Both countries should strengthen cooperation in areas such as infrastructure construction, energy, halal food, agriculture, fisheries and digital economy.http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-09/14/content_31969164.htm
• 據新華社報道，中國國家主席習近平當地時間19日在斯里巴加灣同文萊蘇丹哈桑納爾舉行會談。兩國元首高度評價中文關係積極發展勢頭，一致決定建立中文戰略合作夥伴關係，做政治互信、經濟互利、人文互通、多邊互助的好夥伴。會談後，兩國元首見證了共建「一帶一路」合作規劃等雙邊合作文件的簽署。雙方發表了《中華人民共和國和文萊達魯薩蘭國聯合聲明》。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/11/20/a04-1120.pdf

- brunei guangxi economic corridor

• THE government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and the government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor (BGC). Brunei was represented by Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources Hajah Normah Suria Hayati binti Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama (Dr) Haji Awg Mohd Jamil Al-Sufri, while Guangxi Government Vice-Governor Zhang Xiaoqin signed on behalf of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Present to witness the signing at the Marriott Hotel in Nanning were Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar and Guangxi Governor Chen Wu. Prior to the MoU signing, the Brunei minister paid a courtesy call on the Guangxi governor. During the meeting, Wu noted that the MoU signing showed that “exchanges in cooperation between Guangxi and Brunei have entered a new stage of development.” The Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor is the biggest project, he said, before adding that the next step is to come up with specific projects and cooperate in the production base. This, he believes, is very important for both countries. “We are now building the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st Century, which will cover several areas including agriculture, maritime affairs, food production and tourism,” he said. Meanwhile, the Brunei minister noted that the signing signalled stronger cooperation between Brunei and Guangxi. The Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor will move forward and one of the outcomes is to establish a working committee. For Brunei, the committee will be chaired by the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources. The BGC is a big market of the halal industry, one that has a trade worth of $7 million. This serves not only Muslims customers but also the non-Muslims. The minister explained that ideas were mooted for an entire year, before eventually resulting in the signing of the MoU yesterday. The Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor is to develop Brunei and Guangxi Region in the areas of trade and bio industry. The idea is to help Brunei Bio Innovation Corridor (BIC), and in Guangxi, we are looking for places to help the production, which is quite significant. In the Chinese market, Brunei is looking primarily at halal and bio industry that leans more towards agriculture production. We are not looking for an industrial park, unlike Malaysia or Singapore. As Brunei looks to enhance the bio industry, the special corridor between the two regions serves as a highway. We are going to develop it in Guangxi and we have counter production in BIC located in Tungku. The area is a 500-hectre park mainly for halal and bio industry, he said. He added, processing will be done in Brunei, while the raw materials will be from Guangxi. The minister will also visit Yulin Town, where there is traditional Chinese plants and herbs that could enhance the BIC. With regard to paddy production in Brunei, he said, “We have difficulty with the soil, but we are still progressing. We have identified the problem and they are going to help us overcome the problem.” “The moment we have the corridor, we will have a direct shipping link that will reduce production cost. Brunei is introducing halal products to China, but the market has not caught up yet, possibly because they do not know or understand much about Halal goods,” the minister explained. Currently, Brunei has an office in Nanning, which will be useful for both corridors, and shows strong initiative for cooperation. http://sqwchinagroup.com/brunei-guangxi-sign-on-for-economic-corridor/#.VrsITVcVGf0, shipperstoday jan-feb16 issue

- aviation

• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2017-07/19/content_30164379.htm Chinese budget airline Lucky Air on Tuesday launched a direct air route between Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province, and Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei.

- investors from china

• 近期積極拓展東南亞市場的中國香港(2388)昨宣佈獲批准在文萊成立分行，中銀香港副總裁林景臻對該行正式獲得文萊及香港相關監管機構的批准，成為首家進駐文萊的中資銀行表示高興。他指，集團會積極開展當地分行的籌備工作，爭取盡快開業，為文萊的金融市場發展注入新的活力。集團稱，在文萊開設分行除了符合國家「一帶一路」戰略，更實現中國銀行(3988)在東盟十國的全覆蓋，提升在東盟地區的服務能力。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2016/04/20/b03-0420.pdf]
• http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2135748/why-china-coming-bruneis-aid-its-oil-slowly-runs-out the first phase of the US$3.4 billion complex on Muara Besar island, run by China’s Hengyi Group, will be Brunei’s largest-ever foreign investment project and comes at a time when the oil-dependent country needs it the most.

Hong Kong
- http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2015-05/20/content_15266925.html The Brunei government has set aside a 466-hectare plot of land for the development of biotech-related industries, especially halal-food processing and other innovative streams, such as thepharmaceutical and cosmetic products trade. The project, located at the northwest of the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, and named BruneiBioInnovation Corridor (BIC), has already attracted four mainland companies in setting up theirfootprints there under its first phase, with a total investment of $100 million. Hong Kong enterprises, although still adopting a wait-and-see attitude, are also in discussionswith the Brunei authorities. "The four mainland companies are engaged in the food, biotech and Chinese traditional-medicine industries," said Gary Ho, managing director of SQW China Ltd - BIC's managementand consulting company. "At the same time, we're looking for Hong Kong firms specializing in logistics, financialarrangement and fund-raising to build up their presence here as well and, hopefully, we can seesome major progress by the end of this year," Ho said. The global halal-food industry is estimated $634 billion, with 63 percent of the potential comingfrom Asia. At present, about 1.37 billion, or 2 percent, of the Chinese mainland's population, areMuslims and it's expected to be the world's 19th largest by 2030. Hong Kong also boasts a strong Muslim community of more than 300,000, including those livinghere and visitors, according to Muhammad Munir Chaudry, president of the Islamic Food andNutrition Council of America.
- delegation from hk

• Hantec delegation hkej 30sep16 b20